Silver On Edge
by DarkNWriter
Summary: Silver doesn't know what it's like to be loved, or how to love. All because of his childhood. But when he meets a girl that'll change everything, for better or for worse, he'll learn how to love for once. AU. OC/Silver
1. Chapter 1

"Why so edgy, Silver?" Ashy asks me as her Yamna-called Silverwing- swoops down on my Loudred-called Screech. Her black bangs fall in her face as she grins. Silverwing hits Screech hard in the gut, sending her flying.

"Loudred!" The Pokemon screeches, as she hits a rock, and slides down it.

"Yamna!" Silverwing says, before flying up into the air again. I grit my teeth, and turn towards my sister.

"Why am I so tense?" I ask with a laugh. "This is going to be the last time I'm going to see you until we're both 18-and a hell of alot stronger." I tell her. "I want to prove to you how strong I am right now-and then again once we're older."  
Ashy won't wipe that grin off of her face. "Mhm, sure. Oh, by the way, have you checked out Screech lately? I think if you do, you'll know who's the true winner in this battle right now."

I frown, not knowing what she means by that. I glance over my shoulder, and my jaw goes slack. Screech, is slumped against a rock, and had fainted. I scowl, but mutter, "good job, Screech," before returning her to her pokeball. I place her ball back where it belongs before walking towards Ashy. I stick my hand out to my sister, "Nice job, sis," I say as I shake her hand.

"Thanks bro." She grins. "You put up quite a good fight," she says as Silverwing lands on her shoulder.

"Yeah, you too." I say, before hugging her. "Try to stay out of trouble during your journey, okay?"

I feel my right shoulder become wet. Ashy's...crying. "Yeah," she says, voice cracking, "You too. Don't get caught by that douchebag we call dad, now, ya hear?"

I pull away with a sad smile, and nod. "Yeah 'course you in four years," I tell her.

Ashy nods with a smile to match mine, "Yeah..." She hugs me one more time, and whispers in my ear, "Goodbye," before pulling away, and running off.

"Bye Ashy!" I shout after her, cupping my hands around my mouth. There's a sickening feeling in my gut, as I realize this that I won't see her ever again. Will, not ever again. I'll get to see her in four years, but you know what I mean! I let out a small sigh.

Time to take on the world alone...

Four Years Later

"Silver," Nurse Joy calls out in the Pokemon Center. Right now, I'm waiting for Tsunami-my Feraligatr- and Snatch-my Arbok- to get all patched up, so I can go to the next gym. I look up at Nurse Joy in confusion. Has something gone wrong, perhaps? "Your sister Ashy just called, she needs to speak to you." Nurse Joy says.

I nod and stand. "Okay," I look over at the row of video call computers.

"3rd one from the left," Nurse Joy says, before heading in the back with Chansey. I nod and call after her, telling her thanks, before heading to said computer.

I type a few onto it, before there are two clicks, and suddenly Ashy's face pops up on the screen. "Hey Ashy," I say, "What's up? Haven't heard from in like..."

"Four years," Ashy says.

"Yeah, four years." I say, "Long time."

Ashy raises an eyebrow at me, and an amused smile spreads across her face, as her Glaceon-called Glacier- jump up onto her lap. "You've forgotten, haven't you?"

"Forgotten what?" I ask her, confused. Slim jumps up onto my lap.

"Stunky!" He says. I cover his mouth with one hand, signaling for him to be quiet.

"Remember that deal we made when we were fourteen? That we'd meet up again when we were eighteen, and battle again to see who was stronger?" My eyes widen in shock. I really had forgotten about that! Shit! I hear laughter, and I look towards the screen to see Ashy laughing her ass off. "Oh my god, you really did forget! That's hilarious!"

"Yeah yeah it's soo frickin' funny," I say with a roll of my eyes, "In more pressing matters-where are you at? Are you in Sinnoh?"

"Yeah, it just so happens I am. I'm in Hearthome City right now, where are you?" Ashy asks.

"I'm in Veilstone-but we can meet each other halfway, in Solaceon Town." I tell her.

"Sounds great-see you in a few," she says with a large grin.

"See ya," I say, before ending the call.

I get up from the seat and head over to the counter, just as Nurse Joy returns from the back. "Oh hello Silver, what can I do for you?"

"Are Tsunami and Snatch healed yet? I kinda have to meet my twin sister, and I'll need them when I do." I tell her. Nurse Joy blinks, and doesn't ask any questions about it.

"Well they are, but I want to keep an eye on them just for a little bit. I don't think it'd be wise to put them into battle right away..." She says.

"I won't put them into battle, Nurse Joy," I tell her, "They'll be on the side lines. Please Nurse Joy!" I beg.

She thinks about it for a minute, before sighing, and saying. "Alright, hang on." She said, before heading into the back room. She comes back out, with Snatch and Tsunami. I smile at them, and beckon them to me. The come over, and I rub their heads, before return them to their pokeballs. Nurse Joy watches without saying a word.

"Thanks Nurse Joy," I tell her as I put the pokeballs away.

"You're welcome, Silver," Nurse Joy says, "Now, be safe."

"I will. Thanks again," I say, before heading out. I feel her gaze heavy on my back as I leave. It must have run through all of the Joy's that my father's Giovanni, and they must have also told each other what happened to Ashy, and I. Everyone Pokemon Center I've ever been too, the nurses have watched me with an eagle eye, and always seem a little unwilling to let me leave.

I walk outside the Center, and grab my bike. I don't usually ride my bike, but I need to get to Solaceon Town quickly. I fling one leg over the bike, and put my left foot on the pedal, before pushing off.

"I thought you'd never get here," Ashy laughs, her cheshire cat grin planted firmly on her face. Silverwing hovers around her, and I can see the recognition in it's eyes.

Come to lose again, eh? Silverwing thinks to itself, although I think it forgot I can hear it's thoughts.

Not this time, Silverwing. I think back to it. I can tell Silverwing is alarmed, because it doesn't think anything else. "Well, I'm here now." I say, as I practically toss the bike to the ground. I look my sister up and down, as I ask, "How have you been?"

Ashy gets up from the place she's leaning on, and shrugs, before saying, "Good I guess. Good as you can be with Team Rocket goonies following your every move. You know how many times I have made those three idiots-what are their names, Jessie, James, and Meowth?- "blast off at the speed of light"? An ungodly amount of times." She tells me with an angry sigh.

I chuckle at that. "Sucks to be you then, because I haven't seen anyone from Team Rocket sense we were fourteen." I tell her.

"Lucky duck." She says with a snort. "Anyways-I didn't come here from Veilstone to have idle chit chat with you-not that it wasn't fun," Ashy says with a grin, "But I really want to see who's the better twin."

I nod in agreement. "Best two out of three?" I suggest.

"No, I don't have time for two out of three. One on one, like when we were kids. Silverwing vs Screech." She says, clapping her hands together.

"Fine, fine, okay." I say, pulling out Screech's pokeball. "Go, Screech!" I say as I throw out her pokeball.

"Loudred!" She cries, as she comes out and lands on her feet.

"Go, Silverwing!" Ashy calls, and the Yamna flies out in front of her.

"Let's go!" Both of us shout at once.

"Silverwing, use gust!" Ashy yells. The Yamna flaps it's wings towards Screech, who braces itself.

"Screech, use bite!" I command.

"Loudred!" Screech cries, before flinging herself at Silverwing, biting down hard on it's head.

"Yamna!" Silverwing cries, and both Pokemon fall to the ground. Dust blows up in every direction, blinding both Ashy, and I. I hear her cough, but I just shield my eyes, and wait for the dust to clear up.

Come on, Screech...I think to myself.

I'm okay, Silver, Screech thinks to me. I jump in surprise, forgetting all about my connection with Pokemon. I begin to relax, as Screech adds, But I don't think Silverwing will be recovering anytime soon. As Screech finishes the sentence, the smoke clears, and I can see Screech shaking the dust off. But where's Silverwing?

Ashy and I hesitantly walk forward, and I can't help the grinning from taking over my features as I see Silverwing had fainted. Ashy looks shocked. She, obviously thought she'd beat me easily, like when we were kids.

But we aren't anymore, and I've gotten a whole lot stronger since then.

Ashy picks up Silverwing with a sigh, "Obviously, you're the stronger twin...right now," she says, her face solemn at first before it blows into a full on smirk. "I will beat you later, once I've gotten stronger."

"Mhm," I say with a roll of my eyes. "Suureee."

"I will!" She says, scowling at me. I chuckle at her.

"Well, I'm going to get going. I need to get to Pastoria City," I tell her.

Ashy's face drops. "Noo please don't go." She pleads. "I haven't seen you in four years, and probably won't for another four years!"

I look at her and sigh. "Fine fine okay...Although it'll be pointless for me to stay, because we'll have nothing to talk about," I say, as I cross my arms over my chest. There's a moment of silence, before I say, "See? Told you. Now, if you excuse me..." I begin to walk away, when suddenly...

"Wait!" She calls, grabbing my right wrist, "I got some people I want you to meet. There back in Hearthome at the Pokemon Center."

I tense up at the word, "people". "Ashy," I say, warning her, "You know I don't do well around new people...And-"

"And that's why you're that lonely asshole who travels around the Pokemon World moping around and never makes any friends." Ashy says, practically mocking me. I glare at her, and open my mouth to say something, when she sighs, and says, "Look, I know you don't do well around people you don't know, but can you just try once. For me? I think if you met them, you'd really like them. And I'm being dead serious." She says.

I look at her with a frown. "You don't know that. For all you know, I could hate them. Look, don't try pressuring me into doing something I don't want to do. You'll just end up with two "friends" who hate you because your brother was a total asshole to them."

Ashy pouts, and sticks out her lower lip, giving me these big puppy dog eyes. "Aww...come on brother! Do it for me? Pllleeeaaaseeee? It won't be that bad! And if you want to leave after being there for five minutes, then by all means you can leave! But can you plllleeeeeaaaasseeeee do this for me, just this once?" She asks, and I can't say no.

I mean, she's my sister. When she wants something, she can make me putty in her hands. She knows all the right buttons to push, because we were the only friend the other had when we were kids. It's not like adults wanted their kids to be friends with Giovanni's children.

"Fine, Ashy." I tell her with a sigh.

She grins widely, and says, "Great, come on." Before dragging me towards Veilstone City.

What have I gotten myself into?


	2. Chapter 2

"Honey I'm home!" Ashy says sarcastically as she walks into one of the rooms at the Pokemon Center in Hearthome City. I roll my eyes at that, and shake my head. She can be such a goofball sometimes, I swear. I turn my gaze to the two other figures in the room, and am pleased to see Ashy isn't rooming with any boys.

Good, I think to myself, She doesn't need to have boys around her yet...

As if she can read my thoughts, Ashy sends me a look that says, "I'm eighteen, Silver, I think I can have them around if I want". I roll my eyes that, before I turn and take in the appearance of the two other girls in the room.

One of them looks really young-and when I mean really young, I mean she looks 15. She has bright green hair, and almost as bright blue eyes. She's wearing a green shirt, with a black skirt that goes a little bit before her knees, and green leggings that run down to her boots-which, go up to the middle of her calves. Shecocks her head to one side, and looks very interested in me.

The other one, doesn't look so interested in me. She's got short brown,hair and her blue eyes take in my appearance, and they seem to make a judgement of me, before they look away towards my sister. She's wearing a white shirt that fades to purple at the bottom, that shows off her mid drift. She's wearing a black, long sleeved jacket over it, and she's wearing a purple skirt. She's wearing knee high black boots. "Ashy, who is this?" The girl asks, frowning at my sister.

"Gabi, Feather," Ashy says, nodding to both of them, "This is my brother, Silver. Twin brother, may I add." She says with a grin, before turning to me, "Silver, this is Gabi," she says motioning to the brown haired girl, "And this is Feather." She says, motioning to the green haired girl.

"Nice to meet you!" Feather beams, as Gabi watches me warily. Something tells me, Gabi doesn't really like me. And I don't think Feather doesn't like me, either.

"Nice to meet you too," I tell both Feather and Gabi. Gabi cocks her head back, and murmurs, "you too". I turn to Ashy with a sigh, "I met your friends, so can I go now?" I ask her, very boredly.

Ashy saddens. "Aw come on bro, stay for a bit. Get to know 'em, I'm sure you'll like them if you stay."

"Look," I say with a sigh, "I really, really need to get to Pastoria City."

"What's so important in Pastoria City?"

"My gym battle."

"You can fight him any day!" Ashy scowls. "C'mon Silver, please?" I pause for a moment, before sighing, signaling to her that I'll stay. "Yay!" She says excitedly, and her eyes widen as she suddenly thinks of something, "Oh my god! We can go to the annual bonfire that's happening tonight right outside Hearthome!"

Feather's eyes widen too. "Great idea, Ashy!"

Gabi doesn't say anything, but I guess everyone else can tell that her quietness means no. "Oh come on, Gabi, it'll be fun. It'll take your mind off of-"

"If it'll stop you from mentioning his name," Gabi cuts her off, "I'll go."

"Great!" Feather chirps, not heading Gabi's warning. "What about you, Silver?"

I sigh, "I'll go." I tell them, and both Ashy and Feather high five each other after I have agreed to go.

"Sweet!" Ashy grins. "This shall be awesome!"

"Yeah...awesome..." I hear Gabi mumble, and I'm sure I wasn't supposed to hear that.

As we near the bonfire, I can hear laughter, and Pokemon cries. I'm pretty sure this bonfire is all about Pokemon battles, not about having fun. I look up at the sky, and wish I was in Pastoria City, not in the forest surrounding Hearthome.

"Silver, come on!" Ashy says as she grabs my wrist, and begins pulling me towards the clearing. I glance behind me to see both of her friends looking amused. Haha, I think to myself, Laugh it up.

When we burst into the clearing, everyone stops what they're doing and looks at us. "Hello everyone," Ashy says, suddenly losing all her confidence, especially when a Onix looks at her. I don't know why, but she's terrified of all rock and ground type Pokemon. Well, except for a few.

Everyone stares at us for a few more seconds, before going back to what they were doing. I watch as Feather darts off to watch some Pokemon battle, leaving Gabi, Ashy, and I by the entrance to the clearing. "So...um...I'm going to go...over there," Ashy says, before running away in the direction Feather left, leaving Gabi and I alone.

Thanks a lot, sis, leaving me with the girl who I think hates me the most out of the two. I think to myself. "Er..." I begin, turning towards her, "I understand if you want to leave with my sister, and Feather, I'll go find a Pokemon battle too-"

She cuts me off, "No...it's fine," she says, blue eyes unreadable. Something tells me, from the way she looks at all of the boys here, that either she just hates men, or she recently had a bad break up. I assume, from the way she's gripping a gold ring on one of her hands, that it was a bad break up.

Gabi notices me looking at the ring, and she covers it up. "Sorry," I quickly apologize, "Didn't mean to stare." Gabi rolls her eyes, and gives out a noise that sounds like, "mhm". "I'm really sorry I'm not-"

"I know," Gabi says, tight-lipped. I snap my jaw shut, sighing inwardly. I wonder who crapped in her cheerios this morning. She sighs, and says, "Come on, let's go watch those trainers over there," she says, nodding towards a double battle.

I shrug, "Okay," I say before we both head over there.

"Arcanine use fire spin!" One of the trainers shout, as the Pokemon dives at an Infernape.

"Dodge it Infernape!" Another trainer yells. Gabi and I watch the battle between fire types-all the Pokemon that are in that battle are Arcanine, Infernape, Magmortar, and Houndoom- for a few more minutes, before both Pokemon on the left side of the battle field -the Pokemon on that side of the field are Infernape and Houndoom- faint, making the right side the winners.

One of the trainers on the right side turns to the crowd, and asks, "Who's next?!" The crowd backs away from the field, and Gabi and I are the only ones who didn't. I look around, once I realize that everyone else backed away. Gabi looks completely calm, as the trainer says, "Alright-looks like you two are next to be defeated." He says with a grin.

I glance at Gabi, who walks forward and takes her place on the left side of the field. I take my spot beside her. I look at the other two, who admittedly throw out their Pokemon. "Go, Cherrim!" One of the trainers shout.

"Go, Jumpluff!" The partner shouts.

"Go, Violet!" Gabi shouts, throwing out a pokeball.

"Espeon!" The psychic type Pokemon cries as she comes out of her pokeball.

I wait a minute, trying to decide who I'm going to choose, before deciding on Snatch. "Go, Snatch!" I shout, throwing the pokeball. The poison type Pokemon comes out, and slithers across the ground before curling up in the middle of the floor, tongue flickering.

I glance at Gabi, whose gaze is focused on the field.

The one with Cherrim gives a cocky grin, and says, "May the best trainer win."

"Snatch, use poison sting!" I command the poison type Pokemon.

"Arbok!" Snatch cries, as he spits out the poisonous thorns towards Jumpluff, who couldn't dodge it quick enough.

"Jumpluff!" The Pokemon cries, flying backwards, and lands on the ground, and faints.

"Violet," Gabi begins, "Use confusion."

"Epse," Violet begins, eyes and the gem on her forehead suddenly glowing bright red. Cherrim flinches as the red light surrounds her, and the Pokemon's body shakes. Violet's eyes flicker, before she flings the grass type Pokemon backwards into a rock.

"Cherrriiiimmmm!" The Pokemon cries, before fainting.

The two trainers stare in shock at their fainted Pokemon. I glance at Gabi, who's stroking Violet's head, with a smile on her face, and telling her good job. Snatch slithers up to me, and I stroke the male Arbok's head. "Good job, Snatch," I tell him.

"Arbok..." The Pokemon hisses, content.

I smile at him, before looking at Gabi and Violet, "You two did awesome too, by the way," I tell her.

She looks up at me, and smiles at me, "Yeah, you two did too." She says, before glancing at our ex-opponents, "I don't think they're taking it too well-Losing, I mean." She says with a grin.

I glance back at them, to see the one with the Cherrim looking absolutely furious. "I agree with you there-I don't think they planned on losing."

Gabi opens her mouth to say something, but gets cut off when Ashy and Feather storm up to us, Ashy looking pissed off as hell. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" She asks, as she pushes her index finger and middle finger in my chest.

"What do you mean, 'what the hell am I doing'?" I ask her, scowling slightly, "I think what your friend Gabi and I were doing, we were teaching a stupid punk what it feels like to lose." I tell her. I didn't notice a change in Gabi's eyes, until I look over and watch them flicker back to their usual emotion.

Unless I've gone crazy and started seeing things that aren't there.

Ashy's body shakes. "That's not a 'stupid punk', Silver. That's a Pokemon trainer like you and me. And before you ask what the big deal is, the big deal is that Pokemon trainers talk to other Pokemon trainers, who talk to other Pokemon trainers, who talk to other Pokemon trainers, who-"

"Okay I get it," I say, cutting her off, scowling.

"No, you don't, because what if some...people hear about this, and then tell you-know-who?" Ashy says, giving me that look.

Giovanni, I think mentally to myself, when she says "you-know-who".

"Okay, obviously I don't get it," I tell her, "But I'm sure it'll be fine..."

"Yeah, because there are totally about a thousand kids in the world with red hair, red eyes, and a Arbok named Snatch." She says sarcastically.

I narrow my eyes at her. "You're overreacting-don't worry, I'll be fine and so will you. They haven't found us, in four years, Ashy! I'm sure they aren't going to find us now!" I say, scowling.

Ashy is about to respond, when suddenly we both hear Feather clear her throat. "Um...hello? We're uh, still here..." She says. I look over at the green haired female to see her rubbing the back of her head.

Gabi has her eyes narrowed at us, and her Espeon in her arms, "Guys, what's going on? And who's this... "you-know-who" fella?" She asks, as Violet cocks her head back.

"No one," Ashy says quickly. My gaze snaps over to her. Obviously she hasn't told her friends everything about her yet. I can see why, considering how freaked out she is right now about this.

"Ashy," Gabi says, voice growing softer, "You know we don't hide any secrets from you-so why are you hiding them from us?" Ashy doesn't respond, and when she doesn't, Gabi just sighs, shaking her head, before walking off, after saying, "Come on, Feather, let's go watch that double battle." Feather sends Ashy a look that says "we'll pry it from you later, I hope you know that" before following Gabi.

"They really hate being lied too, don't they?" I ask casually, before turning back to my sister, who has her arms crossed over her chest, "Ashy?"

"Bro, I should have never brought you here." She says with a scowl, "I should just have let you gone to Pastoria," Ashy sighs, "Now I got both Feather and Gabi breathing down my neck trying to figure out who's "you-know-who"."

"You were going to have to tell them sooner or later," I tell her.

She looks me in the eyes, and sighs, "Yeah...I know..."


	3. Chapter 3

It's about 10 o'clock P.M., and no one has head home yet from the bonfire. More people just seem to be arriving. It's weird, ya know? I figured only a couple people would be left, not a few thousand people. I never figured the people of Hearthome would be party all nighters. I watch the fire's flames flicker, as Chuck's Infernape-yes, the same Infernape who lost to the Arcanine and Magmortar, and yes his trainer's name is Chuck- adds more fire to it.

Chuck walks over, and sits down by me once Infernape is done with it's job. "Ya know," he says, as he watches the trainer he lost to, "I'm happy you beat him, someone needed to knock him off of his podium."

I don't really remember what made Chuck want to walk over and start talking to me, but I'm happy he did. Gabi and Feather dragged Ashy off to watch a battle about forty-five minutes ago, leaving me here alone. I think Chuck saw that, and wanted to make idle chit chat. I'm glad he did though, because if he hadn't, I'd still look like a lost and lonely Vulpix.

"I wasn't the only one who did it, my friend Gabi helped, too," I tell him, as I stroke Slim's back, who of which lets out a satisfied "Stun-ky". The flame flickers, and grows, starting to warm up the once cold, and frigid clearing. The crowd around the fire begins to disperse, as they go to watch some Pokemon battles-which was what they really came to the bonfire to do, not to huddle around it, and make idle chit chat.

"I realize that, but I cannot seem to find your friend Gabi," Chuck says, as he watches the fire. He pushes a dark brown lock out of his face, as his Infernape jumps into a tree over head with some other Pokemon-wild, and not wild. There are some Pokemon cries that are made, and my ears ring from the greetings they are sending to their new arrival.

I cock my head back towards a single battle between a Dewgong and an Ambipom. "They should be over there," I tell him, before looking at the crowd around the battle, "Although, I don't see them..."

Chuck shrugs, "It's not a big deal, I can thank her later." He says, as some people come over, and put more wood in the fire, making the flames grow. Chuck and I watch the flames in a somewhat comfortable silence. My mind wanders as I watch the flames, Ashy's words ringing in my head from earlier.

"No, you don't, because what if some...people hear about this, and tell "you-know-who"?" What if someone from Team Rocket does hear about this, and does tell Giovanni? Frick, I might have just ruined everything. Why do I have to be so reckless?

Trying to shake the thoughts from my head, I turn and ask Chuck, "What is this...thing called?"

"What thing? Oh, you mean the bonfire?" Chuck asks as he's jerked from his thoughts. He turns, and looks at me, green eyes glowing from the light from the fire. He jumps when he sees my eyes, and according to Ashy, whenever the fire catches my eyes they glow almost a demonic color.

I nod. "Yeah, that."

Chuck thinks for a moment, before saying, "It's not really called anything. Some people call it The Pokemon Bonfire Tournament-because whoever wins the most matches gets an award- and some call it The Bonfire Bonding, because of trainers bonding with their Pokemon during this time. They've never given it an official name, but I suppose they will soon, considering how many people have shown up the last couple of years."

I blink in surprise-not because of how many people show up, but because of it's lack of a name. Wouldn't they name it before they started to advertise it a couple years ago? What did they came it back then? Just a bonfire that was going to take place outside of Hearthome?

Good thinking, Hearthome. You deserve a slow clap. A really slow clap.

A couple children run by, laughing, and being chased by two Wurmples. "Wurmple, Wurmple, Wurmple!" Both of them shout, as they chase their trainers. At least, I assume they're their trainers, from hearing their thoughts. Reminds me of when Ashy and I were kids, when we used to get chased around by Giovanni's Persian. That was back before he snapped...

Even today I don't know why he truly snapped, but something made him, and he would never tell us. No, of course not. Because whatever reason made him snap, I guess made him abuse us, so I can only assume it had something to do with us.

Was it because we played with his Persian too much? Was it because Ashy and I always had to know what he was doing? Was it...

Because our mom left?

I'm shaken out of my thoughts, by a large hand on my shoulder. "Dude, you okay?" Chuck asks me once my eyes go back into focus, "You were spacing out on me." Chuck moves back to his spot on the tree trunk and kicks his legs up on a tree stump directly in front of him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about...stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Nothing important." I tell him, as I search the large crowd for my sister, or at least one of her friends. At first, I have no luck, but then I look again and spot them over by a couple trainers, talking to them and probably trying to get to know them. I can tell Ashy's still mad at me from earlier, when she looks over and glares at me, before turning back to the new people.

I roll my eyes and sigh, before suddenly a cold breeze sweeps over the clearing, making the fire go out. Everyone looks around in shock/panic, and some begin to murmur to each other. I look at Chuck as if to ask him what's going on, and he just shrugs. "I'm from Eterna City," he says, "I've never been to the bonfire before. I don't know if this is usual or not."

Well, thanks a lot, Chuck. I think to myself with a sigh, and freeze when I see my breath in the air. How did it get that cold here that quickly? Something's up. I look towards the center of the camp, to see where the bonfire wood is stacked, to see a lady standing on top of the charred wood. She's wearing a long, glittery purple dress, with a yellow X on her right hip. Her purple/maroon colored hair is formed like an X, also. I blink in surprise, recognizing her as the gym leader of Hearthome, Fantina.

"Velcome," she says, with a smile, "I am erry pleazed to zee you all 'ere. This is a truly splendid outcome. I vould like to eh...present all of 'ose vho 'ave beat more den fifteen people, viff dis coupon to de Poke Mart. It vorks for any purchase." Fantina says, as the people who have beaten more than fifteen people walk up to her.

"You know," Chuck whispers to me as Fantina awards the very few winners, "I can barely understand Fantina with that accent, can you understand her? Or can you not understand a single word she said, either?"

I'll admit, at times, it is hard to understand Fantina, but there were plenty of people in Team Rocket with French accents that were around Ashy and I a lot, so I can understand her a little bit better than most. "She just said, 'Welcome, I am very pleased to see you all here. This is a truly splendid outcome. I would to to eh...present of thise who have beat more than fifteen people, with this coupon to the Poke Mart. It works for any purchase." I tell Chuck.

Their recognition in his graze. "Crap, be back in a bit. I gotta go get my awards." He says, before getting up, and jogging over to the gym leader. I watch him shake Fantina's hand, and receive his reward, as someone walks up to me.

"I see you made a new friend," Ashy says, as she sits on the tree trunk next to me. "I thought you said you didn't like talking to new people?" She asks, as she crosses her legs, resting her hands in her lap.

"I didn't say I didn't like talking to new people," I tell her, frowning, "I just said it wasn't my favorite thing to do." Fantina claps her hands together again, and says some things, before disappearing in a puff of smoke, the fire relighting once she's gone.

"Those aren't the words you used," she says with a roll of her eyes, "But besides that-Gabi, Feather, and I are going to head back to the Pokemon Center, the bonfire's about ready to end too. It's not like there's much else to do. I just wanted to tell you so you would know in case you decided to stay longer-you haven't, have you?" She asks, as people slowly start to trickle out of the clearing.

I rise from the spot, and look down at her, "Why would I decide to stay longer, if there's no point?"

She chuckles, and stands too. "That was my thinking-so, ready to head back?" Ashy asks, as she glances at Chuck, "Or do you want to tell your new BFF good bye?" She grins, at me, as I scowl.

"No," I tell her, "We can just leave." I say, walking past her towards the spot where Gabi and Feather are waiting. I can tell Ashy isn't shocked by my answer, when she follows me towards her friends without hesitation.

"Done talking to your BFF?" Gabi asks sarcastically as we near them. Feather starts laughing, and I give her a "hardy-har-har" look. "Oh, you are? So we can go back to the Center, now?"

"We can leave," Ashy says before I can answer. She obviously felt some tension beginning to form in the air... "We should probably get back, before the light leaves the area, and there's no one else here to guide us back to Hearthome." She says quickly, pushing all through the entrance/exit, telling us without telling us to just drop it.


	4. Chapter 4

The walk back to the Center is awkward, and quiet. Not many words are spoken. I hear a Hoothoot hoot in the distance, and we stop a couple of times when Pokemon run across the trail in front of us, most of them being dark type. A group of Houndour pass in front of us, and one of them stops to look at us. It's ear twitches, and it woofs slightly, before running off with the rest of it's pack. The only noise to be heard after that is the crunching of gravel underneath our shoes. Soon, lights appear in the distance, and I tell them, "I guess this is where we part-I got to get to Pastoria."

Ashy scowls at me, even though the other two seem relieved. "You aren't not leaving yet, Silver Jonathan Red!" She says forcefully with a scowl. "You are staying at the Pokemon Center with us tonight! No ifs, ands, or butts! And don't you try to argue!"  
She snaps, pointing a finger at me when I open my mouth to say something. "You keep trying to bail on me, after we haven't seen each other in four years, and it's making me mad!" Ashy says, and I can mentally hear her add "that's that".

I sigh, as if to tell her, "okay, okay," and we continue to walk in silence. We soon reach Hearthome City, and I look up at the large and bright welcoming sign. "WELCOME TO HEARTHOME CITY," it reads, "HOME OF THE POKE PARK, AND THE HEARTHOME CITY GYM!" I roll my eyes as we walk under it, and down the main street, turning left on one corner, and heading up it, before turning left again, walking up the next street, then turning right. We walk forward towards the Pokemon Center-the big orange building's sign glowing obnoxiously bright.

A couple other trainers, Gabi, Feather, Ashy, and I walk into the Pokemon Center, to see Nurse Joy is still up. "Welcome back," she says, not looking up from what she's doing. "Did you all have fun?" The other group of trainer's admittedly begin to tell her how it was, and she smiles, nods, and listens. My group manages to sneak away back towards the rooms.

"Good night," I tell them, as I begin to head into another room.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"To my own room?"

"Oh, no you don't!" Ashy scowls at me, "If I let you have your own room, you'll sneak out in the middle of the night and leave. Not going to happen! You're staying with us," she says, grabbing my hand, and dragging me into their room.

I scowl at her, "You know, I could be passed as a perv because I'm staying in the same room as two girls who aren't related to me."

Gabi walks over to the bottom bunk on the left side, and slides onto it with a yawn. Feather jumps onto the top bunk. Ashy rolls her eyes. "Silver, you make it seem like boys haven't roomed with girls before. It'll be fine." She says as she climbs on the bottom bunk of the bed on the right side. I sigh, before climbing up onto the top bunk on the right side. I lay down, and put my arms behind my head as I stare at the ceiling.

Slim comes out of her pokeball, and walks up the bed towards my face, and shoves her face in mine. "Stunky," she says, as she rubs his cheek against my cheek.

"Hey Slim," I say as I rub his head, the fur soft under my touch. Slim makes some noises that I assume mean she's content. I scratch behind her ears, and she leans into my touch as she lays down beside me. She moves her chin up, so I'm scratching under there instead. I continue to scratch under her chin, until she pulls away, climbs up onto my stomach, and curls up there. I raise my head to look at her, and give her a look that says, "Really?"

If she could, I bet Slim would be grinning at me right now. I sigh, and lay my head back down. My left hand begins to pet Slim, who let's out a noise of content. I stare up at the old ceiling, and pretty soon, I drift off to sleep unwillingly.

I wake up in the morning to someone-or something- yanking my hair. "Ow! God damn it-stop it! I swear to god Ashy, if that's you I'll-agh!" I shout as I sit up suddenly, and bang my head against the ceiling. I clutch my forehead, and scrunch my eyes shut. I feel my eyes water as my head throbs. I groan, and bury my face in my hands as I clutch my head.

"Stunk, Stunk-y!" Slim cries, running up the bed, and puts her paws on my thighs, nudging my elbow to see if I'm okay. I'm sorry Silver! She tells me mentally. I just needed you to wake up-I didn't mean for you to get hurt! She looks up at me, and looks apologetic.

I give a weak smile, and rub her head as I rub my forehead with the other one. "It's okay Slim, it's no big deal." Slim stills looks apologetic as she lays down next to me. I pet her head two more times, before I cover my face with my hands again and lay back on the bed. I sigh as my head continues to throb.

"Hey-don't go back to sleep yet," a somewhat familiar voice says. My eyes snap open, and I sit up again-slower, though, so I don't bang my head. I look down to see Gabi sitting her bunk bed, petting Violet. I look around for the other two, but when I don't see them, I begin to ask where they are, but she cuts me off. "Feather and Ashy went to go get something to eat."

"Oh, okay," I say as I swing my legs over the edge of the bed. I cock my head back as I look at her, and frown, "Why didn't you go with them?" I ask her, confused.

"Not hungry," she says as Violet leaps off of her lap, and walks over to the sliding glass door on the south side of the building. I don't know why they have it there, but for some odd reason, they do. "And, I also have a few questions to ask you."

I frown as Slim rubs her head against my arm. "Er...okay, then. Ask away, I guess." I say.

Gabi cocks her head back, and asks, "Why was it such a big deal, that you battled that kid last night? Ashy was seriously pissed, and I've never seen her so pissed before, and who's you-know-who?"

I sigh, before saying, "Obviously she hasn't told you much about our past, and I'm sure she wants to keep it a secret for the same reasons I do."

"Why would you want to keep a secret?" Gabi asks.

To protect ourselves from Giovanni, I tell her mentally, but I bite my tongue to keep from saying it aloud. "Personal reasons." I tell Gabi, "And I'm sure later once Ashy feels comfortable with telling you guys...she will..." I don't like telling people stuff that may or may not come true, but I think right now is the perfect time to do that.

"Wow," Gabi says, narrowing her eyes at me, "Your sister really does have you wrapped around her little finger, doesn't she?" She gives a smirk, and I can't help but think that she's been waiting to tell me that for hours.

"What do you mean?" I ask with a frown. What the hell is she talking about, this bull crap about me being "wrapped around my sisters finger"?

"What do I mean?" She practically mocks me as she stands up. "Ever since you appeared here yesterday, you've always done what she wanted you to do. And, when you do protest, it's only a feeble attempt. You always do what she asks-no ifs, ands, or buts." Gabi crosses her arms over her chest, and juts out one of her hips. Her grin widens, as she says, "Even before you came here, and she video called you to remind of your little rendezvous in Solaceon Town, and I overheard your guys' conversation-I could tell she could play you like a well tuned fiddle any time she wanted."

I slid down off of the bed, and just stare at Gabi. I slowly walk over to her, and once I stop in front of her, I say, "Okay, so maybe she does have a little control over what I do-but that's because we haven't seen each other in four years, and she's just happy to see me again. She just wants to learn all that has happened since we separated. Is that such a bad thing?" Gabi opens her mouth to respond, but I cut her off. "And to answer my own question, no, no it's not. Because it reminds me that she still cares. It reminds me that I haven't been completely forgotten, although I doubt you would know the feeling." Gabi snaps her jaw shut and just stares at me.

I turn away, towards Slim, who's sitting on the bed, looking at me expectantly. "C'mon, Slim, let's go." I tell her, as I begin to head to the door. I glance back at Gabi, to see her looking out the sliding glass door. I open the door and head out with my Stunky. I walk down the hallway, heading off to find Ashy.

Oh, and Feather.

"Nice bed head, Silver," Ashy tells me as I slid into the booth across from her. Feather glances at me, and giggles as she takes in my appearance. I glare at them both, before running my hands through my hair, trying to calm it down.

"Hardy frickin' har," I say sarcastically, before begrudgingly taking Ashy's brush that was offered. I run it through my hair quickly, getting out the knots as fast as I can, before handing it back to Ashy. Don't want anyone to see me use a woman's hair brush, now, do I? Although, Ashy has told me more than once I could pass for a woman with the hair I have now.

Ashy grins at me, before she asks in a serious tone, "Where's Gabi?" She looks truly worried about her friend as she takes a sip of orange juice, and then takes a bite out of an apple.

"She's back in the room," I say as I steal one of Ashy's apples. She gives me a death glare as I bite into it. "She said she needed some things to do before she came here to eat.." I tell her, and I hope she buys the lie. Ashy obviously doesn't, when she narrows her eyes, and begins to ask me something, when someone walks up.

"Hey guys," the lady-Gabi-says as she sits down next to Ashy. "Sorry I'm late, had to do some things," she says, playing along with the lie perfectly. Either she overheard the conversation, or it's just a freaky coincidence. She plucks up another apple from Ashy's plate, and my sister gives her a flabbergasted look, as Gabi bites into the apple, and asks, "What's new?"

"Oh, nothing much, just everyone's stealing my apples. Like usual." Ashy says, crossing her arms over her chest, glaring at both Gabi, and I. Gabi grins as she chews the food in her mouth, before swallowing.

"Well, of course we got to steal food from you, otherwise we'd all starve!" I tease lightly. Feather bursts out laughing, and Ashy looks shocked once again. Once she gets out of it, she chucks a banana at me.

"Screw you, Silver!" She says.

"No thanks," I tell her, "You're my sister, that'd be gross." Ashy rolls her eyes, and Feather tries to stifle her laughter. I glance towards Gabi, to see her finish off the apple. She doesn't look the least bit amused with Ashy's and I's pointless banter.

I wonder what's made her so...guarded? I wonder to myself, as I turn back to the other two. I know Gabi couldn't have been like this before, because knowing Ashy, she'd never become friends with a person who was almost as guarded as herself. She'd go for someone like Feather-carefree, kind, loyal, and had absolutely no troubles in the past with her family, or anything along those lines. Being friends with someone else who might have gone through the same thing as she has wouldn't fly with her, because that person might recognize the signs of abuse, and realize Ashy's been through the same thing. So, obviously something had to happen after Ashy met Gabi to make her like this.

And I am going to find out.


	5. Chapter 5

Later that day, Feather, Gabi, Ashy, and I are standing out in front of the Pokemon Center. Of course, Ashy having to prove to everyone that she's better than her brother, challenged me to another Pokemon battle. When I said no, she called me a scared Stantler, so of course I'd have to battle her!

Although...what she doesn't know is that I grabbed some different Pokemon from my P.C. when they weren't looking/paying attention. She'll be surprised when she sees my whole knew team. "Six on six?" I ask her. She nods.

"Go, Garden!" She shouts as she throws out her Gardevoir. I'm not surprised by this-she's been practically inseparable from that Pokemon since she's caught it.

"Gardevoir," the Pokemon says calmly, placing it's hands together.

"Go, Delilah!" I say as I call out the Donphan. Don't ask about the girlie name...I let Ashy name it...

"Don, Donphan!" The Pokemon snarls as it stomps it's feet.

Ashy looks shocked. "Since when were you travelling with Delilah?" She asks.

"Since now," I say with a grin, before saying, "Delilah, use bulldoze!" Delilah lets out a roar, before going into a ball and rolling towards Gardevoir. Ashy wasn't able to get the words out quick enough to tell her Pokemon to move, so the Gardevoir gets plowed over.

"Garden!" Ashy shouts, and watches as her Pokemon stands back up, before turning back to Delilah, and I, "Garden, use Magic Leaf!"

"Garde!" Garden shouts, before it's eyes glow, and leaves rise around her, before shooting at Delilah.

"Dodge!" I command, as Delilah rolls into a ball, and swerves to the left. "Use rollout!" I command her. Without even coming out of her ball, Delilah goes at Garden, knocking the Pokemon off of her feet again.

"Quick, use psychic!" Ashy commands. Garden gets up quickly, and her eyes glow as she looks at Delilah. She picks up the Pokemon, and tosses her into the lake by the Center.

"Delilah!" I shout as the Pokemon makes a loud splash in the water. Being a ground-type Pokemon, she doesn't do too well in water. I run over to the lake, and my pants legs get soaked with water as I look for the Pokemon. Pretty soon, Delilah comes up and walks to the shore. She gives me a weak smile, before passing out.

"Ashy, wins!" Feather calls, being out referee for this battle. I return Delilah, as Ashy returns Garden. "Round two may begin." Feather says.

"Go, Scythe!" Ashy shouts.

"Go, Obsidian!" I shout, as I throw out my Absol.

Both Pokemon face off with a growl. Ashy and I are both waiting to see who will make the first move. When she doesn't make the first move right away, I shout, "Obsidian, use-"

But as soon as I start, she shouts, "X-Scissor, go!"

"Double team, Obsidian!" I shout as Scythe prepares his attack.

"Absol!" Obsidian shouts, before suddenly there's about twenty of him, surrounding Scythe.

Scythe looks confused, and doesn't know which one to attack, so he just chooses a random one. That one, was not it. "Quick, Obsidian," I shout, "Use slash." Obsidian dives at Scythe, and hit him on the side with his horn. Scythe lets out a cry before crashing to the ground.

"Scythe!" Ashy shouts, and is about to run over to her Pokemon, before he's leaping up, shaking himself off. "Use leaf blade!" She commands, before her Pokemon's running at Obsidian. The blades on Scythe's arms elongate, before he hits them on Obsidian. The Absol lets out a cry, but quickly dusts himself off.

"Psycho cut," I command Obsidian, as Ashy commands Scythe to use leaf blade again. The two Pokemon go at each other, and when one of Scythe's blades connect with Obsidian's horns, suddenly there's an explosion, and we're sent backwards.

I sit up quickly after I land, and look towards the field to see smoke surrounding our Pokemon. When it clears, Obsidian and Scythe are still locked in the position they were before, but it looks like neither Pokemon wants to faint.

Scythe pushes Obsidian back, but then Obsidian pushes Scythe forward. They do that for about another minute, before both Pokemon faint. "It's a tie!" Feather shouts. I run forward as Ashy returns Scythe. I pet Obsidian's fur, as I tell him good job, before returning him. I stand up, and back up to my original position, as Feather yells, "Round 3, begin!"

"Go, Drill!" Ashy yells.

"Go, Drake!" I call.

"Beedrill!"

"Drapion!"

Two rounds have past, and the scoring looks like this:

Delilah vs Garden. Ashy: WIN

Obsidian vs Scythe. TIE

Drake vs Drill. Silver: WIN

Erin (Aggron) vs Speed (Scizor). Silver: WIN

Venom (Venomoth) vs Gar (Garchomp). Ashy: WIN

Now, it's the last round...

"Go, Chari!" Ashy shouts as she sends out her Charizard.

"Go, Tyrant!" I shout as I send out my Tyranitar.

"Charizard!" Chari shouts.

"Tryannnn!" Tyrant shouts. The two Pokemon growl at each other, the old rivalry between the two rekindling. I hope Ashy knows we can't get careless with this battle-especially when the Pokemon Center's close by.

"Go Chari-use inferno!" Ashy shouts. Chari lets the fire build in his mouth, before he spits it at Tyrant.

"Dodge it!" I command to my Pokemon, but he doesn't listen. He just stands there, and takes it. I give a frown, before commanding him to, "Use thunder fang!" Tyrant's mouth glows with electricity, as he flings himself at the fire and flying type Pokemon. Chari lets out a cry as Tyrant chomps down on his neck, and flings him like a rag doll. Chari flies backwards past Ashy, but stops once his feet touch the ground.

Chari shakes his head, as Ashy commands him to use fire blitz.

The battle goes like this for a while, Chari spitting something at Tyrant, and Tyrant flinging Chari across the battlefield like a rag doll. Finally, I've had enough. "Tyrant," I shout. The Pokemon glances back at me. "Use hyper beam!" I command.

Realizing what's about to happen, Ashy commands Chari to use hyper beam too. Is she insane? Does she want us to blow this area up? Obviously so. The two beams collide, and it's like the battle earlier with Obsidian and Scythe. Ashy and I are blown back from the force, and I can tell the other two are also blown back. My back collides with a tree, and I force back a yelp of pain out of habit.

Pain is not to be shown, ever, for it is a sign of weakness...

And I am not weak...

I pry my eyes open to see both Chari and Tyrant using their hyper beams at full force. Both of them break away once they aren't able to hold it anymore, and they leap at each other, smashing their foreheads together. Tyrant-being the bigger out of the two- forces Chari backwards. The two suddenly lock hands, and are trying to see who will get the upperhand first.

Tyrant being the little cheater he is, uses thunder fang, and snaps down on Chari's neck. The Charizard lets out a cry, before both it, and the Tyranitar fall to the ground, a cloud of dust puffing up as they do. I cough as the dust comes into my lungs, and my eyes get blurry for a second, before the dust clears. Tyrant gets up, while Chari lays on the ground-Tyrant won the battle.

This means-sense only two of the battles can only be counted to one or other- that...

I won.

I turn to Ashy, and give a smug smirk as I say, "Hah, in your face, sis." Ashy looks shocked. Obviously she thought beating her brother would be a piece of cake. But obviously she did. Come on Ashy, Silver thinks to himself, You're smarter than that.

Ashy returns her Charizard with a mumbled good job, before she walks over to me, with a weak smile, "Why do I keep thinking I'll be able to beat you the next time, when you're obviously the stronger one?" It was one of a question towards herself, than to me.

"Hey," I say, glancing towards Feather and Gabi to see them far away from us. "You're strong too, this battle just wasn't yours to win." Ashy wipes at her eyes, and I know it's always been her dream to beat her "big bro" in a Pokemon battle, because when we were younger, I'd usual beat her. I know she was hoping as we got older it'd be the other way around. I smile slightly at her, and add, "You're strong, Ashy. In more ways than one."

She wipes her eyes again, and smiles weakly. "Thanks, bro," she whispers, before hugging me.

"You're welcome," I whisper back as I hug her tightly. She pulls away, and the two other trainers walk over to us.

"Oh, how...heart touching," Gabi says sarcastically.

Ashy jumps, and looks at her friends, rubbing the back of her head. Gabi's Espeon looks at my sister, and I, before letting out a "espi". Gabi doesn't look amused, and all in all I'm not amused either.

In all honesty, I can't wait to get away from her.

I turn to Ashy, and say, "Well, I'm heading off to Pastoria, now."

Ashy sighs, and nods, "Okay, bro. Be safe, okay?" She tells me, looking worried. Dear Arceus, it feels like I'm three years old.

I nod, as if to tell her, 'I know'. Venom pops out of his pokeball, and rests on my shoulder. In between battles-just so I didn't have to go into the Center afterwards- I had used a full restore on all of my fainted Pokemon, reviving them back to health. I look towards Gabi and Feather-Feather talking to her Prinpulp, Pinprick, and Gabi is watching a Pokemon trainer talking to their Ariados. I snort to myself, and should have known none of them would say goodbye. I turn away from them, and walk down the path, heading towards Pastoria City.

'WELCOME TO PASTORIA CITY: WHERE ALL OF YOUR DREAMS CAN FLOURISH'. Yeah, right, "flourish" my ass. I shield my eyes against the harsh glare of the sun, as I walk into the city. Right away to my right, I see the big, bright lights, of the Safari Zone.

I should stop by there, later, I think to myself, maybe they'll have some valuable Pokemon there...some that are actually worth my time...

My face remains stoic, as I walk through the town, searching for the Pokemon Center, and the gym. I find the Center first, and I go into drop off my Pokemon, before walking back out-searching for the gym by myself.

Which, I don't mind.

After thirty minutes, I'm about ready to give up, and go ask Nurse Joy, when suddenly a trainer shoves past me, crying, "How could I lose? I'm THE best! How could I lose to a water type Pokemon on the first round?!" I watch him run towards the Pokemon Center, shouting, "Nurse Joyyyyyyyyyyy!"

I roll my eyes. Bratty kid, I think to myself. I follow from the direction the bratty kid came from, and pretty soon I see the gym, which holds the water type gym leader of Sinnoh, Crasher Wake. I take in the appearance of the gym, and decide that I should come back tomorrow.

Heading back the way I came, I didn't realize someone was following me the whole time since I entered the city...

"Your Pokemon are fully healed, Silver," Nurse Joy tells me as she walks out of the back room with my team-Venom, Delilah, Obsidian, Drake, Erin, and Tyrant.

"Venomoth!" Venom shouts as he tackles my face.

I stumble backwards from the force, and push the bug-type Pokemon off of me. "Awesome to see you too, Venom," I tell the him. Venom beams at me, and chirps a "veno", before landing on my shoulder. I look at Nurse Joy. "Thank you, Nurse Joy..." I tell her, voice quiet.

She nods, "You're welcome, Silver..." I give a small wave as I walk out of the Center. As the doors slide close behind me, I hear a rustle in the bush next to me. I look towards the bush, and don't see anyone there. I give a frown, and shake my head.

No one's there, Silver, I think to myself, You're going insane. Yeah...that's the only explanation. You're going insane, like you always thought you would.

I continue to shake my head as I make my way to the Safari Zone, even though I always feel like there's a pair of eyes following me...


	6. Chapter 6

"Welcome to the Safari Zone," the mechanical voice says as I enter a tube that will shoot me over to the Safari Zone. "Leave your pokeballs in the provided capsule," it adds, as suddenly a capsule pops up beside me, and inside the capsule are five spots for five pokeballs. "And take one Pokemon of your choice in with you into the Safari Zone." I choose Venom, because I don't think he'd really appreciate it if I chose a different Pokemon.

Another capsule pops up, with a bag full of thirty pokeballs. "Take the pokeballs provided by the Safari Zone. Enjoy," the mechanical voice says, before the doors in front of me open to the zone. I walk out with Venom on my shoulder.

"Venomoth..." he says unsurely, looking around the marsh. I pat his head, before scanning the area for some Pokemon. Seeing none, I head into the marsh. The Earth goes down underneath my feet, then sucks around it. I frown, and growl deep in my throat as I try to pry my foot out of the Earth.

I'm about ready to give up on this stupid Safari Zone, when suddenly I feel the ground vibrate. I look around, before spotting a large shadow coming towards me. Venom tenses on my shoulder, as a Tropius comes into view, munching on some plants growing from the trees. I bring out a Safari ball, as I whisper to Venom, "Use zen headbutt."

Venom nods, before letting out a cry and flying at Tropius. The Tropius lets out a "Tro?" before turning towards Venom, only to get zen headbutted in the face. Tropius lets out a cry and stumbles back.

Venom flies back, and I say, "Venom, use Venoshock." The Venomoth's mouth and eyes glow as it gets ready to use the attack on the Tropius. The Tropius looks at us, and lets out a cry as Venom's attack is suddenly unleashed. Tropius stumbles backwards, before flying at Venom, hitting it, and smashing it against a tree. Hm...it knows body slam...I think to myself, before I look back at Venom, who weakly got up.

"Venom," I command the Venomoth, "Use aerial ace." The Pokemon nods, before it's wings glow, and it flies at the grass and flying type Pokemon. When Venom hits it, Tropius stumbles backwards and lets out a cry of anger. I throw a Safari ball at it.

The ball hits it, and it opens, sucking the Pokemon into it. The Safari ball lands on the ground, and it shakes, the light on the button glowing red, before it clicks, and disappears. I walk over to the Safari ball, and pick it up, before shoving it in my pocket. "Come on, Venom," I tell the Pokemon. "We have much more to do..."

By the time my Safari Zone time has ended, I leave with only the Tropius who I named Troop. I put her in my PC, before I head out of the building. I look up at the sky, and realize it's getting dark out and I should probably head back to the Pokemon Center. With Venom back in his pokeball, I trudge back to the Center.

"So, you got a Tropius?" Ashy asks through video chat. It's the next day, and the gym wasn't open so I decided I should just call Ashy to pass the time. It's worked-it's been two hours since I first called her, and she's just now asking me about my Tropius.

"Yeah, I did," I sigh, "There wasn't a whole lot of...good Pokemon in the Zone, that seemed worth my time. They were most the same old generic Pokemon you could catch out in the wilderness."

"Then why did you catch a Tropius?" She asks, "Couldn't you have just caught one in the wild?"

"I wasted 50 dollars on that one entry," I tell her with a frown, "I wasn't about to waste it by not catching anything!" I sigh, irritated. Obsidian comes out of his pokeball and nudges my hand. I stroke his head, and he leans into my touch.

"Okay okay, calm down," she says, raising her hands. "You don't have to get so freaky freaky," she frowns. Her Vaporeon-Vapor- jumps up on her lap, and says, "Vapo!" before rubbing it's head against her cheek.

I sigh, and say, "Sorry, sorry...So, have you defeated Fantina yet?" I ask her.

She sighs. "No, the Poke Festival was today, and Fantina decided to go to that, instead of being at the gym like she was supposed too. So, no, I haven't. But it's not because I'm weak, mind you."

"Never said you were."

"But you thought it."

"Does it matter?"

"Not really."

"Exactly," I tell her, as I continue to pet Obsidian. We continue to talk for a few minutes, before I get bored, and say, "I got to go, sis. I need to train Obsidian and them for tomorrows Pokemon battle with Crasher Wake."

"Aww, okay," she says, looking sad, "Well, might see ya tomorrow, bro. And good luck." She tells me before hanging up. Yeah...you too, I think to myself before getting up from the chair, and looking at Obsidian.

"Come Obsidian, let's go train," I say as I grab my jacket off of the back of the chair, and slip into it, before heading out of the Pokemon Center, Obsidian following obediently behind. Once I get outside of the Center, I head down the path out of the City, towards the ocean. Since Crasher is a water type trainer, I figured I should train against some water type Pokemon.

I flinch as I see the ocean, and I don't want to go any further, but I force myself to keep going. I look out over the water, and try to keep down a shudder. Obsidian must feel my uneasiness, because he comes up and rubs against my leg, as I'm sent back into a flashback.

I will never tell Ashy this, but two years ago, Giovanni found me in Hoenn, and kidnapped me once again, and tortured me...

When I wake up, my head feels heavy-like I'm being held upside down and all the blood is rushing to my head. After I give my body a moment to wake up, I realize that I am being held upside down. I look around in panic and confusion, and shout out, "Hello? Is anyone there? If there is, show yourself!"

I hear giggles, and then a Team Rocket Grunt steps out. I stare at her, and then realize that I was indeed kidnapped by my father's blasted team once again. I growl at her, as she walks up to me, and leans down to whisper into my ear, "You're going to learn not to mess with Giovanni, or Team Rocket, Silver." She then puts a bag over my head, and wraps a rope around my neck, tying the bag closed around my throat.

I thrash and I hear the chains clink around my ankles. Crap crap crap! I think to myself as I hear the door open and close. I go still, and breathe hard, wondering what they're going to do.

The door opens after a short while, and I hear somebody walk in. The door doesn't close. I hear footsteps near me, and someone pulls the bag off of my head. I blink rapidly as my vision blurs, but I never get a good look at them because as soon as my vision clears, someone puts a bag back over my head. I flail a little bit, before I hear a deep voice say, "Raichu, thunderbolt."

Before I know what's happening, I hear Raichu go, "Rai...chu!" before I feel something hit me. I let out a scream as the Raichu's thunderbolt zaps my body, making every nerve on my body feel like it's on fire. I clench my fists, and try to control the scream, but don't have enough time to force myself to stop when suddenly I hear the man say, "Raichu...enough," and suddenly the pains gone. My body twitches from the shock, and I let out a loud groan of pain.

There's a moment of silence, before the man says, "Poliwrath, water gun." I barely have time to recover from the thunderbolt, when suddenly the Poliwrath hits the bag with a water gun. The water soaks through the fabric and fills the bag. I cough and thrash again, trying to get some air, but failing miserably. Soon enough, the man says, "Poliwrath enough," when I stop struggling. The stream of water stops, and suddenly I hear the man walking over to me. He yanks the bag off of my head, and I look up at the man through blurry eyes.

It's Giovanni, I should have known.

I cough up a bunch of water, as Giovanni tsks, then says, "Look at yourself, Silver." He snorts, then shakes his head at me. "Pathetic. Honestly pathetic. Now...if you had stayed here, in Kanto, and Team Rocket's Headquarters," he says as he cocks his head to the side, "I could see you being a better man. A stronger, better man-better than the one you are now."

"And why would that be?" I ask him, glowering slightly. "Because I would be a Pokemon taker like you? Because I would be following in your footsteps?" I snarl at him, "Let me tell you something, Giovanni, that does not make someone a strong man! That makes them a coward, and a thief," I snap.

Giovanni raises his hand, and back hands me across the face. I wince, but only slightly. "Fool," he snaps, "It's not about Team Rocket-it never was."

"Oh really?" I ask, spitting in his face. "Then what was it about, Giovanni?"

He doesn't answer. "Poliwrath, water gun, Raichu, thunderbolt." I swallow, before letting out a scream as the Pokemon's attacks hit me.

I feel my legs buckle underneath my, and I fall to my knees. "Abso?" Obsidian cries, before nudging my arm. My head snaps up, and I look at him, before rubbing his head.

I can sense his worry, and I try to reassure him by saying, "I'm okay Obsidian, just a bad flashback. I'm okay now." The Pokemon doesn't look so sure, but when I say, "I'm okay, honestly." He just sighs.

I stagger up, before running my hand through my hair. I take a deep breath, before grabbing the rest of my Pokemon's pokeballs and tossing them in the air. All of the Pokemon in my party come out, and look at me in confusion. "Alright," I tell them with a weak smile, "We got now, until tomorrow morning to get ready for our battle with Crasher Wake. Who's ready?" When I get a round of Pokemon cries in agreement, I say, "Okay, let's go!"

"Alright Tyrant, return," I command to the Tyranitar, holding out his pokeball. A red light shoots from the ball, and surrounds the Tyranitar, before it shoots back to the ball, pulling the Pokemon inside. I put the pokeball back on the roster, before turning away from the ocean, and I begin to head back to Pastoria City.

It's silent all around, and the only sound that can be heard is the sound of my own footsteps. I watch as a Buizel, and a Floatzel run out in front of me, stop, then take off again. I walk on, and I force back a shiver as the wind blows cold sea air towards me. I pull my jacket closer around me, and I cross my arms over my chest to keep it there.

I continue on, and I soon see the lights of Pastoria City. I quicken my pace slightly, when that feeling of someone watching me returns. I get about three feet away from the giant sparkling sign, when suddenly there's a loud "POP" and suddenly my legs are going out from under me. I hit the ground with a loud "thump", and I let out a slight hiss of pain. "Looks like you aren't so tough now, huh, Silver?" I hear a rough voice cackle. I flinch at the sound. I look down at my legs to see there's rope with weights tied around my ankles. I let out a snort, before looking at the area it came from.

Three people come out of the bushes, and I can't make out their appearance. All I can see, is that they're not from Team Rocket. Two of the people-two men- come over and one picks me up by my arms, the other picks me up by my legs. I begin to thrash, "Let me go!" I scream at them. The last person-a woman- walks over and takes my pokeballs away.

"Hm...a Tyranitar, a Absol," she says as she looks through the clear glass dome. "Interesting." Then she looks at me, and pulls out a syringe-with a sedative, no guessing. She walks over to me, and pushes the syringe's plunger down, pushing the fluid into my body. My body spasms, before my eyelids begin to droop.

"Sleep well, Silver."


	7. Chapter 7

When I wake up in the morning, my head is throbbing like mad. What happened last night? All I remember was going to the ocean to train my Pokemon to get ready for the Gym battle with Crasher Wake the next day...

Frick, I think to myself as everything else that had happened that day came crashing down on my like a ton of bricks. I got kidnapped by some crazy lunatic, who miraculously knows my father.

I am so totally screwed.

I look around the room I'm in, to see I'm literally the only thing in the room! I frown, and try to get out of the chair I'm tied too, but it's futile. I sigh, and tap my foot restlessly against the concrete floor. Obviously, the people here are too "busy with other things" to come check up on their prisoner. I sigh once again, close my eyes, and rest my head back against the wooden chair. I don't know how much time has passed, before I hear the big mahogany door open, and close. I don't bother to open my eyes as the sound of high heels can be heard walking towards me. I sigh, figuring this is some idiotic "bad guy" who won't be worth my time, but my thoughts are corrected when I get a harsh stomp on the foot. I force back a yelp of surprise, as my eyes pop open, and I look at the woman before me. The woman before me has flaming red hair-much like my own- and fiery red eyes. She's wearing a white dress, but the arms of the dress is gray. She's wearing black leggings, and white knee-high boots. In the middle of her chest, there's a yellow G symbol.

I snort, and look away from the woman as I realize that this is Mars, from Team Galactic, one of the stupidest teams out there. Besides Team Aqua and Magma, of course. "So," Mars begins, and I snap my gaze back to her, "You're Silver, the one that has been a pain in your father's rear since the time you were born... You know," she kneels in front of me, and cups one side of my face, "I'd seen you as...well...more of a man, not this puny shrimp who's sitting in front of me right now." My head snaps towards her hand with a predatory growl-my teeth barely scraping the palm of her hand. She snaps her hand back, and she grips it with her other one. "Feisty," Mars says, cocking her head to one side with a smile, "I like it." My body tenses. Creepy pedophile, I think to myself. "So, Silver," Mars says as she gets up. "Why do you think you're here?"

"My father's a bastard who can't just let his children go?" I ask, voice dry with sarcasm.

"No, you're here because if your father finds out, he'll finally assist us, and he will get you once he does." Mars says. I bite my tongue to keep from telling her he doesn't want me. I may be his son, but it doesn't mean he loves me or wants me. She's crazy if she thinks that my father will help Team Galactic just to get me back. Hell, I ran away from him! He wouldn't want a child that runs away, because it just means trouble for him! Everyone seems to think he's a loving father when he's really not, and they don't seem to get that. "And once he assists us, we'll take over all of Sinnoh!" Mars says, grinning wildly.

"Yeah, of course you will," I say sarcastically, "The day you take over the Sinnoh is the day my sister and her friends cease to exist. Because do you really think they're going to let you get away with this? If you do, it's gonna be a cold day in hell for you then when you find out that's not so true." I growl at the stupid woman.

Mars blinks at me rather stupidly. "You...have a sister?"

If I could, I would throw my hands up in the air. "Are you serious? You tried so hard to kidnap me and get my father to help you, when you only have half a package? Do you seriously think he only wants one of us? Not really. Obviously the bright minds at Team Galactic didn't read all of the information thoroughly." That gets me a backhand across the face. My body stiffens, and there's a slight...sting in my right cheek. A couple locks of red hair fall in front of my face, and I don't bother to try to move them as I look up at her. She's shaking with anger. "Aww, have I angered you?" I ask, cocking my head to one side with a grin.

"Shut up, you stupid piece of trash!" Mars shouts at me, body shaking. But then she stops, smoothes her dress, and then smiles wickedly at me, "Oh, just wait until Cyrus comes after I tell him about what you have said, oh...then you'll be sorry."

"I'm sure I will be," I say sarcastically. Mars purses her lips, before turning on heel, and leaving. As soon as the door slides shut, I let out a cry of frustration. If I could, I would grip my hair in frustration. What the hell did I just do? I practically fed Ashy and her friends to the vultures, when those idiots didn't even know about them! I bang my head back against the chair. God, I am truly stupid. I am so, so stupid. Great. Now Ashy and her friends are going to be hunted. What kind of brother am I?!

A shitty one.

I spit some blood out of my mouth and onto the concrete, the silence finally settling in. Great, now I'm gonna go insane because it's going to be too silent in here and then to pass the time I'm going to think about everything, which will be the thing to drive me into insanity. Just frickin' peachy.

"Sur...Surskit..." My head snaps up, and I look around to find out where the sound was coming from. It sounded like a Pokemon's cry. I hope to god it's wild, and it can cut through rope. If it can't, I'll... "Surskit." There's that noise again! I look around, before seeing two spider-like legs coming over one of the many pipes in the room. Then, the whole Pokemon's body appears. It's got four long blue spider-like legs, and it's got a small, round, blue body. Two black eyes peer out at me, and there's one pink stripe under each eye. On top of it's head, there's a yellow cone like object. I recognize it admittedly as a Surskit.

I let out a groan. "A frickin' Surskit! Great, now I'm never going to get out of here!" The Surskit cocks it's head to one side, before crawling over to me. It crawls up my leg, and onto my lap.

"Surskit?" It quips, as it looks at me, then the rope that has me tied to the chair. "Surskit..." It says again, and now it looks sad. Ugh, if I could, I would flick this Pokemon off like the bug-type it is for pitying me.

I glare at the Surskit, but it ignores my look like I didn't even look at it. The Surskit leans close to the rope, and suddenly I'm jumping in shock as it uses ice beam, freezing the rope. I blink in surprise. What is it doing? Once the rope is completely frozen, the Surskit steps back a little bit, before running at my gut, obviously using the move quick attack. I let out a grunt as the bug and water type Pokemon hits my gut. But, as the Surskit backs away, I'm surprised to see the rope crumple in ice chunks. "Wow...uh...thanks?" I say, looking unsurely at the Pokemon as I stand up.

"Sur, Surskit!" The Pokemon chirps happily, as it jumps onto my arm, before climbing onto my shoulder. Deciding it'd be best to have at least one Pokemon with me before I find out where mine are, I let the Surskit stay there. I head to the door, and yank it open, before peeking out. When I see no one, I slowly walk out of the room, before looking both ways, and then running down the hallway to the right. The Surskit lets out cries of happiness as we head down the hallway, and then turn a corner, but the cries stop when we run into someone. I let out an "oomph", and stumble backwards, before landing on my ass. I look up at a man who's wearing black pants, and a white shirt with black sleeves, that has the Galactic "G" on the chest, with blue hair that spikes upward, making a "U" shape.

The man, is one of Team Galactic's Commanders-Saturn. I begin to scoot myself away from him, when he practically leaps forward, grabbing me by my left arm, and hauling me up. I begin to thrash in his hold, and the Surskit lets out a cry of worry. "Let me go!" I shout, before kicking his shin.

Saturn looks me in the eyes, and let's out a low growl, "I'm trying to save your ass, stupid!"

"And I'm supposed to believe that?" I snap back.

Saturn sighs, before shoving six Pokeballs into my hand. "Does that give you enough evidence?" He growls out, before grabbing my upper arm, and effectively dragging me down the hallway. I blink in surprise, before shoving the pokeballs into my pockets and yanking my arm away from Saturn, with a murmur telling him I can walk by myself. Saturn just rolls his eyes, and continues down the hallway. Obviously, he spends way too much time here because he leads me through the hallway like he's traveled them many times before. And bet he has.

The Surskit climbs down my arm, and nudges my hand. I look down at it, to see it tap at one of the empty pokeballs with one of it's legs. I sigh, knowing that the stupid Surskit wants to be apart of my team. I pick up an empty pokeball, enlarge it, then tap the Surskit on the head with it, making it open and sucking the Pokemon inside. The ball shakes three times in my hand, before it makes a clicking sound. I shrink the ball, before shoving it in my pocket. Pathetic.

Silence fills the area once again, as we walk down the hallway. Pretty soon, I see light shining in through...a door. I'm almost out of this hellhole! Finally! Once we get to the doors, Saturn opens one of them, props it open with his left hand, gives me a smug smirk, before motioning for me to go through. I roll my eyes, and say sarcastically, "Such a gentleman," before walking outside.

Saturn follows me outside, and we walk away from the building, with a smug smirk still plastered on his face, "Nice try boy, but I don't swing that way." I roll my eyes again, and send him a quick look that says, 'I don't either'. That smug grin of his widens, and he says, "Sure you don't."

I let out a snort, before looking around the city, wondering where the hell they've taken me. I blink in surprise, as I happen to find myself in Veilstone City. Team Galactic Headquarters is in Veilstone City, and no one's noticed? Wow, the people here are truly dense. I continue to look around some more, before I remember Saturn's still here. I turn to look at him. "...Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Yes," he says with a sigh, "And it's exactly where you're heading."

"And where am I heading?"

"Towards your sister and her friends, of course," the (ex?)Commander of Team Galactic states. I open my mouth to ask him what he means by that, when suddenly I hear a "Silver!" and then someone tackles me. I fall to the ground, face first, since the person tackled me from behind.

The person has a tight grip on me, as she says, "Oh my god Silver, you're okay!" I blink, and look down to see my little sister-Ashy-has her arms wrapped around my stomach, hugging me tight.

I pry her off of me-with some help from Saturn. "Yeah, yeah, I'm okay." I say as I stand up, and dust myself off. I then give Ashy a confused look, before asking her, "Why are you here? Don't you have to battle Fantina?"

"I defeated her yesterday. But when I got a call from someone telling me my brother was kidnapped I admittedly rushed here to Veilstone City." She explains, before turning to Saturn, frowning, "And...I'm guessing that person who called me was you?"

Saturn slowly nods. "But why?" I ask, stepping forward, "You're apart of Team Galactic! Or, where. Why would you help me, when it would benefit Team Galactic if you had me?"

Saturn looks completely calm, as he says, "I will explain all of that later. But for now, we need to get out of the open. Follow me." He then turns on heel, and begins walking towards the center of the city. I cast a look at Ashy, before following Saturn-with Ashy and her two friends I hadn't noticed earlier following behind.


	8. Chapter 8

About ten minutes later, we have arrived at Saturn's house-at least, that's what I assume this place is. Now, Ashy, Feather, Gabi, and I are sitting on cushions around a table. Saturn sits across from Ashy and I, and Feather sits on the left side of the table, and Gabi sits on the right side. Saturn had offered us a drink, but we all turned him down quickly. He didn't seem offended, he just made himself some type of drink, before pouring it in a glass, and walking over to the table. He set the glass down on it first, before sitting down across from Ashy and I.

It's completely silent, as Saturn takes a sip of his drink, before setting it down. I glance at Ashy, to see her hands in her lap, clenching her hands into a fist. I turn back to Saturn, as he begins, "How are you holding up, from Mars' slap?"

I make my face go stoic, as I say, "Don't even try to start that idle chit chat with me." Saturn doesn't seem surprised by my hostility. "Explain to me why you helped me, and then why you brought me here-along with my sister and her friends."

Saturn sighs, before lacing his fingers together, and resting his elbows on the table. He closes his eyes, as he says, "I have worked for Team Galactic for many years, and I have always approved of their work. Trying to create a better world, that is what's needed to be done. The world we live in now, is imperfect, and needs to be changed. Although, I doubt children like you would even remotely care about things such as this. Anyways," he pauses, "Recently, Team Galactic has been having some problems. A girl by the name of Cyra has been stopping all of our plans to bring out Dialga and Palkia. Team Galactic has gone to drastic measures to make sure she doesn't foil our plans anymore, and almost all of them have not worked. One of our Commanders-Jupiter-has gotten the bright idea of asking Giovanni for help to stop Cyra, which I doubt it'll work. Cyra is a strong trainer, and I don't think both Team Rocket and Team Galactic can stop her."

"But that doesn't explain why you helped my brother," Ashy says, frowning.

"I'm getting to that," Saturn sighs, before continuing, "But, Jupiter thought that both of the Teams combined could stop her. So, in order to get Team Rocket to help us, she said that we needed to kidnap Silver. Because, according to her, if Giovanni got his "delinquent son" back, he'd be grateful and would help us. At least, that's what she told us after both she, and our leader Cyrus, spoke to him. She also said that Giovanni would help us, once we got his son, and sent him to Kanto. But, I doubted that. Giovanni, from what I can tell, is a manipulative bastard. And once he got Silver, he wouldn't have helped us. I could tell admittedly that it was a lie, but no one else did, or could."

"I have a feeling you're just going to keep going around the topic as to why you helped Ashy's brother, and you'll never actually tell us why." Gabi speaks up. I glance down towards the trainer, and she doesn't look very happy. But yet again, I bet none of us do.

Saturn sighs again. "If you weren't rudely interrupting me each time," he says crossly, "Then maybe I would have told you already." Gabi just frowns, and looks out a window. The ex-Commander then continues, "Jupiter was trying to convince Cyrus that Silver would be in good hands once we got him back to his father. The only reason she was trying to convince our leader of this, is for the fact that Cyrus was abused as a child, and looks down upon child abuse. Cyrus had once told me in one of our meetings that he thought there was more reasoning behind Silver leaving Team Rocket and Kanto then just the fact he was a delinquent. He thought there might be child abuse behind it, and sure enough, there was. Cyrus had asked me to hack into the Child Abuse Records of Kanto-or the CARK- to see if anyone had reported anything on Silver. It took me about five hours, but finally I had dug something up in the archives. It was old, and it had been made four years ago. The report said that the Nurse Joy in Viridian City had noticed an odd limp with Silver when he walked, and she finally confronted him to check it out. If I remember correctly, she found several scars, some bruises, and some of his ribs had been broken, but never reset properly. The report said something about the Department of Human Resources had checked it out, and tried to get information out of him, but he would never open up. There was something about a sister named Ashy mentioned in the article with the same type of wounds. When I showed them to Cyrus, he didn't say anything for about five minutes. I didn't know what he wanted me to do, or what I could do. So, I went on instinct. I went to the room they were holding Silver, and I guess you can say, rescued him. Cyrus probably dislikes me right now, but it doesn't matter." As Saturn finishes, he takes a sip of whatever is in the cup.

An uneasy silence fills the room, before Saturn says, "They're probably looking for both Ashy and Silver now, and anyone who is acquainted with them. It'll probably be best if you four stay here for now, and once it's safe again I'll escort you out of the city."

"But won't they come here to check to see if you're hiding us? Which, you are." Ashy asks quietly.

"They won't search the house...if you don't show any signs you're here. When someone knocks on the door, all four of you must leave the room as soon as you can, and wait in another room. Once they're gone, you're allowed to come back out." Saturn says, sipping some of the liquid from the cup.

Silence fills the room again, before Gabi asks, "Is there any possible way for Feather and I to leave without being noticed? I...don't really want to stay here. No offense or anything," she adds the last sentence quickly.

Saturn doesn't look like it bothers him. "Well, no. If anyone so happens to see you leaving this house, it will rise suspicion. And if you want your friends here," he says, nodding to Ashy and I, "To make it out of Veilstone City without being caught, then it'd be best for them if you did not leave until it is safe for you all to be escorted out of the city."

Gabi goes quiet. Feather looks between all of us, before asking, "If you don't mind me asking-while we're staying here-where are we going to sleep? I don't see any hallways that would lead us to any bedroom, or bathroom. Do you expect us to sleep on the floor?"

Ashy rolls her eyes at Feather's action, and I hear her murmur under her breath, "Princess Feather can't sleep on the floor for one bloody night, now, can she?" A slight smirk graces her lips, despite the situation.

Saturn raises an eyebrow at Feather. "No, one of these doors leads to a hallway with four rooms, three of them being guest rooms." She nods, and then the blue haired male asks the green haired female, "Would there be a problem if you did have to sleep on the floor?"

Feather looks shocked that he questioned her about it. "Er...no, of course not," she says, rubbing the back of her head, "U-um, why do you ask?"

"Because you asked the question in the first place. How was I not to notice the tone in your voice?" Feather looks like she doesn't know what to say, and I hear the other two girls try to stifle a laugh. I roll my eyes, and begin to get up from my spot, when suddenly one of my Pokeballs opens, and out comes Surskit.

"Surskit!" It chirps happily in my lap.

All of the girls stop, and look at it. "Silver...what is that?" Ashy asks, looking confused, but then a small smirk crosses her face. "Oh my god...is that...is that a...haha...Surskit?" She begins to snicker.

I roll my eyes. "Look, I didn't want this damn thing in the first place. It followed me, and insisted it joined my team."

"Uh huh."

"It did," both Saturn and I say at the same time. I look at him, but he's not looking at me. He's look at Ashy. "He's telling the truth. I was there when it happened." Said trainer tells them.

"Just because it's true doesn't mean it's not funny." Gabi suddenly says, bursting out laughing. Feather and Ashy join her.

I roll my eyes, and the Surskit suddenly looks sad. I pet it's head, and think to it, 'It's okay, Sury, don't listen to them. It's not funny. Whatsoever.' Sury seems surprised that I could speak to it. It just lets out another noise, signaling it's disapproval of the girls, before placing it's legs underneath itself, and falling asleep in my lap.

Ashy covers her mouth, trying to silence the giggles as Saturn picks up the cup, and heads to the sink. "W-wow. I never i-imagined m-my brother having such a c-cute and w-weak Po-Pokemon!"

"Sury wants me to tell you that if you don't shut up about her you'll wake up tomorrow with no hair and your mouth glued shut." I tell my sister. That shuts her right up. Sury-who really did tell me to tell Ashy that- raises one of her front legs towards me. I raise my left hand, and she high fives me.

Score- Silver: 1 Ashy: 0


	9. Chapter 9

"I'm tired of being stuck in the bloody house!" Gabi screams in frustration. It's been three days since Saturn took us in, and we haven't been able to live the house. Once. It's starting to get on everyone's nerves because there's only so much you can do inside a house. And a lot of it is stuff for kids. We're grown ass teenagers! We don't want to be locked inside a house-we want to be out exploring! I usually don't agree with Gabi, but this is the only time when I am probably going to agree with her.

"I agree," Ashy says, her Umbreon named Dark sitting in her lap. The Pokemon had begun to get restless, since they haven't been out of their Pokeballs in a while. We asked Saturn if it was okay to let them out, and he said only a few. I think when he meant a few-I think he thought that we would have Pokemon like Onix, or Steelix. Something big like that, you know? But when he found out most of our Pokemon were our height, a little bit taller, or shorter, he finally gave in and said all of them could come out. My Pokemon were not pleased with me. Especially Snatch and Tsunami. When I let them out along with the others, they gave me a death glare, and when I asked them what's wrong, they didn't respond. Usually my Pokemon respond when somethings made them upset, or somethings on their mind. They don't usually ignore me.

Today must be the exception.

Feather looks at Saturn. "When can we leave? It's been three days! I think they would have stopped looking for us by now! This is starting to get ridiculous," she says to the ex-commander, scowling.

"Well, you thought wrong. They are still looking for you." Saturn sighs, "They just walked by for the thousandth time today. If they weren't looking for you by now, then I would have already escorted you out of the city." His Bronzong lets out a noise as it swings it's arms, before it levitates over to the table where there's some dirty dishes. The Bronzong picks them up, before flying over to the sink. "If your lives weren't at risk, I would have sent you on your way by now-trust me." The end of the sentence is clipped, and he sounds annoyed-not by Ashy and I, but by her friends.

"We can take stupid Team Galactic grunts!" Gabi says, before glancing at Flame-her Blaziken-, Violet-her Espeon-, and Rachel-her Raichu- nod in agreement, Rachel's cheeks zap with a few electrical sparks. "If we have to fight our way out of the city, then so be it!"

"Fighting them won't end well-for any of you. You're underestimating them. They may seem like a bunch of idiots, but taking them all on at once is like asking for a death wish. They may lose when it's one on one, but when it's fifteen on four,-or however many grunts there are-they won't lose. They'll win. I've seen it before, and I'm sure if you tried to fight your way out of the city then it'd happen again."

"Can't we just dye Ashy and Silver's hair then?" Feather asks, as her Prinplup, Lucario, and Zoroark eat some of the Pokemon food Bronzong set out in front of them.

"Hell no!" I exclaim, scowling. Ashy seems to be contemplating the idea, before shaking her head in disagreement.

"Oh, come on guys! Silver would look good as a blonde, and Ashy could pretend to be my twin!" The green haired trainer exclaimed.

"No! Nu-huh! We are not dying my hair!" I say, glaring at her. "And whoever tries will wake up in the middle of Snowpoint City without any clothes on, and no hair, with their eyes glued shut!" Feather-who was going to say something else-suddenly snaps her jaw shut, eyes wide. Her hands then go to her head, and she gives me a scared look. I stare her down and say, "And I'm being dead serious." She lets out an "eep!" before running away.

"You should realize," Saturn begins, looking at Gabi and Feather, "That you two aren't the ones who are going to be sent home to your abusive father if Team Galactic captures you. You two will probably be let go, and those two will be sent back to Kanto. You will get to continue your journey, and they won't."

"I do realize that." Gabi says, "But why should Feather and I be under house arrest?"

"Because if we have to suffer, then you do too," Ashy snaps, annoyed, "Is that okay with you, Gabi!?" I blink at my sister in surprise. I've never seen her get so annoyed with anyone. Ever. This is something new.

Gabi purses her lips, before getting up, and walking out of the room with her Pokemon. I blink again, and I see Saturn looking stunned out of the corner of my eye. "Well...that escalated quickly," I muse, snapping everyone out of their little trance.

Ashy's still sitting next to me, rapidly petting Dark, who just woke up. Dark seems to not like the way she's petting him, so he bites her hand with a growl. She jumps in surprise, before looking down at the Pokemon and murmuring apologies to him. "I have to agree with you there," Saturn says, leaning against the island's counter, as Bronzong zips around. He cocks his head back, before saying, "Maybe we could figure something out, and somehow sneak you all out of town to Pastoria City. I'm sure your friend," he motions to the spot where Gabi once stood, "Would appreciate it."

"No, we'll just wait until they're done looking for us," Ashy snaps again, "Gabi can wait a couple more days of being stuck in a house!" I blink in surprise at the harshness in her voice.

"Ashy...you okay?"

"No, Silv, I'm not okay!" She snaps at me. I blink in surprise once again, reeling back. Ashy's never snapped at me before. Ever. She suddenly blinks at me, as if she realized what she just did, "Oh, shit...er...Silver, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you." She apologizes.

I wave it off, truly not bothered by it whatsoever. "Eh, it's okay." I say, before pausing, then adding, "I'mma go check on Gabi." I stand up, and begin to walk down the hallway, Snatch following me.

"Arbok," the snake Pokemon hisses. 'I don't know why you're going to go check on that rude lady.' The Pokemon thinks to me.

'It's giving me something to do, Snatch. It's better than just sitting there.' I think back to the Pokemon, who only lets out another hiss. I head down the hallway, before stopping in front of the guest room Gabi was using last night.

I knock on the door, and I hear a muffled, "Go away, Ashy!" I roll my eyes, knowing this was going to be very, very difficult.

I knock again, and shout through the door, "It's not Ashy; it's Silver."

"Well in the case, GO AWAY!" Gabi shouts at me once again. I sigh, and scratch my head. How the hell am I going to get her to let me in? With force? With something to tempt her too?

"Look, Gabi, just open the door." I sigh, "I just want to speak with you."

There's a moment of silence on the other side of the door, before I hear Gabi weakly call back, "Why would you want to speak with me?"

"To make sure you're okay." I call back. I hear her give a snort, before I add, "And also, just to talk to you. I know more about Feather than I do you, and it seems you hate me for some reason. I want to know why."

There's another moment of silence on the other side of the door, before I hear her give a sigh, and get up. I hear footsteps coming over to the door, and then seconds later it opens. Gabi blinks at me, then sighs again, and stepping aside, motioning for me to come in. I nod to her and walk inside. She closes the door, before walking over to the bed, and sitting down on it, as I lean against the wall, Snatch curling up at my feet. "So, you wanted to speak to me?"

I nod. "And you heard one of my questions already; why do you...act so..rude, to me?" I ask, using the exact words Snatch used to describe her actions earlier. "I mean; it's a valid question. Ever since the first day I met you, you have been incredibly rude to me, and I want to know why."

Gabi blinks at me, before answering the question, "You're arrogant, and selfish. You think you're better than everyone when you're really not, and you just disappear without a word, leaving your sister worried. You don't care who you hurt as long as you get your way."

I send her a highly confused look. "I'm not any of those things; except for the disappearing thing. But those other ones, I am completely not! Where the hell did you get those things from?!"

Gabi rolls her eyes, and says, "All of you men are the same; arrogant, selfish, and uncaring. You may not think you are those things, but truth be told, Silver, you really are."

Well, this wasn't how I expected this to go. I shake my head, and try to change the topic. "Anyways, I don't understand why you're always so rude to people; and so mad at them. What did anyone ever do to you?"

"People are untrustworthy," she chirps, "You can't trust anyone. Something I've figured out all too well."

I narrow my eyes, before trying to play the bad breakup card. "Look, Gabi, just because you had a bad breakup with Billy Bob Frickin' Joe or whatever the hell his name is, doesn't mean you can treat people like crap." Something flashes in her eyes, and I know I hit a sour spot. Well, good. "Not everyone is bad, and you need to realize that before no one wants to be around you 'cause you treat 'em badly." I snap at her.

Her eyes harden, "Get the hell out!" She snaps, pointing at the door behind me.

"Gladly," I say, yanking the door open, before walking out with Snatch. I close the door behind me, before walking out in the living room; with everyone still sitting right where we left them. I throw my hands up in the air, "Well, guys, looks like I'm an arrogant and selfish bastard! Funny, huh?" I say with a chuckle.

Feather blinks at me in surprise. "She called you that?"

"Yup," I say, flopping down on the couch in defeat, before looking at my sister, "Am I really arrogant and selfish?" When she shakes her head no, I say, "Thought not."

"Look, Silv, I think she's just going through a hard time in her life. Give her time. Eventually, she'll warm up to you, and realize that you're not those things." I hope so. I can't stand the thought of someone that I'm possibly going to have to travel with hating me. Because after this, I don't think any of us are going to be able to travel by ourselves, and if that is the case, we can't have someone hating me.

Because if we do, the whole group will fall apart.


	10. Chapter 10

"So, uh, Saturn," I begin, rubbing the back of my head. It's the next day, and nine o'clock in the morning, and for once I'm the first one up-besides Saturn. "What are you gonna do once Ashy, the others, and I leave? Go back and work for Cyrus?" Snatch's head rests in my lap, and he lets out a contented hiss.

Bronzong zips in front of me, and sets a plate of food down, before zipping away. I pick up a piece of bacon, and munch on it, as Saturn seems to contemplate his response. "No, I'm not. Even if I wanted too, it's not possible. Cyrus would have to give a reason to Jupiter and Mars why I have returned, even though on the tapes they can see me let you out of the building. And then Mars and Jupiter wouldn't trust me, or Cyrus. It's best for me, and Team Galactic, if I did not show my face around their Head Quarters again. I guess now...I'll travel around Sinnoh," he sighs, looking up at the ceiling fan, "And once I'm done with Sinnoh, I guess I'll go to Hoenn or Unova. Whichever seems fitting at the time."

I blink at him. "You're going to travel alone?" I ask him. Saturn nods, resting his chin in the palm of his hand. "Well," I begin after a few minutes of silence, "You could always travel with us; I mean, it's a possibility. I know what it's like, travelling alone, and it isn't very pleasant. I'm sure it'd be fine with the others. I mean, I was already forced into their group because of this situation, what's one more? And one more member means we're more protected. The more protected we are, the better chance we have of defeating Team Galactic if we ever get into that situation."

Saturn gives me a peculiar look. "I'm 20 years old, I'm sure I'd be fine travelling on my own, Silver, but thanks for the offer."

I sigh, and nod, "Alright. But if you ever change your mind, the offer will always be standing." I tell him. He only nods. We continue to converse for several minutes, and we ask random questions to each other; like where we were born, what our first Pokemon was, where we would like to go, etc.

"Whatever happened to your Sneasel, Silver?" Saturn asks me when we go quiet once again.

Now, this is usually a touchy subject for me, since it is after all Giovanni's fault for what happened to my Sneasel, and I still have nightmares from it. I sigh, before explaining to him, "When I was fifteen, I ran into Giovanni. A battle started as soon as he saw me. He threw out Kangaskhan, and I threw out Sneasel; which turned into a Weavile. We battled, and eventually Weavile fainted. Giovanni then made Kangaskhan attack my Pokemon, even though it had fainted. I went to protect Weavile, and then Kangaskhan started to attack me; and my father commanded it to continue on until something broke. My right leg broke, and so did my left wrist. Right around the time my leg broke, my Weavile came too. He jumped out from under me, and took all of Kangaskhan's attacks...until someone noticed this, and called Officer Jenny. Giovanni saw this and left quickly, leaving me and my injured Weavile there laying on the ground. Since I couldn't get Weavile to the Pokemon Center quick enough, he past away..." I explain to Saturn, my voice cracking.

He blinks at me. "O-oh, I'm s-sorry," he stutters out, rubbing the back of his head. "I shouldn't have asked you that, you're obviously still very upset by it..." Saturn looks down, as Bronzong picks up my plate, and sets it in the sink.

"It's alright," I tell him, shaking my head, "I need to talk about it. I haven't told anyone about it since it happened-not even my sister." Saturn still doesn't look so sure, but he nods anyways.

"Haven't told me what?" I hear a voice ask. I jump and turn around to see Ashy standing in the entrance of the hallway, rubbing her eyes.

I shake my head at her. "Er...nothing. It doesn't matter." I tell her as Bronzong zips to the counter, and picks up a plate of food, before zipping to the table, and setting down the plate as my sister sits down next to me.

She blinks tiredly. "Alright," she yawns, before seeing the food, and beginning to devour it. "How long have you guys been up?" Ashy asks, swallowing the food. Dark jumps up on the table, and she hands Dark a piece of bacon. Dark eats it happily.

"About four hours," Saturn responds, as his Crobat unfurls it's wings from it's spot in the rafters on the ceiling, and diving down towards Ashy's fork, snatching a piece of an apple off of the utensil. Ashy lets out a screech of alarm, and almost falls off of her chair in shock. Crobat lets out a noise, before flying back up to the rafters, and throws it up in the air, before catching it in it's mouth, and eating it.

"Bad Crobat!" Saturn shouts after the bat Pokemon. Crobat just lets out a noise, before flying downwards, and landing on the table. It flaps it's wings, and gives it's trainer an expectant look. He sighs, before handing the Pokemon another piece of an apple.

Ashy looks warily at the Pokemon, before picking up a piece of food, and shoving it in her mouth, and chewing it. When she's done, Bronzong zips over to pick up the plate, before zipping away to put the plate in the sink. "Thank you, Bronzong," she tells the Pokemon as it zips back over to her. She pats it's head, and smiles.

"Bronzong!" The Pokemon chirps happily, before zipping away.

"Your Pokemon seem happy," Ashy muses, looking at the owner of the house. "You must treat them very well, well, better than how most "bad guys" treat their Pokemon," she says, using air quotes around bad guys.

"Yes, they are," he says, as he feeds Crobat another piece of an apple, "And that's just the thing, isn't it? I'm not a "bad guy". Well, not anymore at least," he states. He's right. He's really not, technically. I guess you can say, he quite Team Galactic, and changed out of those weird clothes. Now, he's wearing blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and a gray jacket over it. If you hadn't known he worked for Team Galactic, you would have thought he was just an average trainer.

"I guess you're not." Ashy says, as she watches the man in front of her feed Crobat another piece of an apple. "So," she adds, "When are we going to be able to leave?"

"Today," Saturn says, sighing, "I haven't seen them around the past couple of days, so I'm pretty sure it'd be safe to say you guys can go to Pastoria."

"Well, that's good." Ashy says, before murmuring to herself, "At least that'll get Gabi to shut up." I give a chuckle at that, as Sury skitters into the room, climbs up Snatch, and hops into my lap. Ashy glances at the Pokemon. "I'm still amazed that you're actually allowing that Surskit on your team."

I scowl at Ashy. "First off, her name is Sury, and second, she practically saved me with the help of Saturn. Why wouldn't I allow her on my team?" Ashy just shrugs, and continues to munch on her food.

A few minutes later, Gabi and Feather walk into the room. Feather face plants onto the couch, and yawns. Gabi flops into the chair next to Saturn, as Bronzong sets a plate of food down in front of her. "Thank you," she tells the Pokemon, before digging in.

After a few minutes, Ashy glances at her friend, "Guess what, Gabi?" Her friend lets out a noise, as if to ask, "what"? "We get to leave Veilstone today, and get to head to Pastoria!" Gabi blinks, before dropping her fork, and letting out a scream of "yes!"es before getting up and dancing around. Feather-once realizing what Ashy told Gabi- gets up too, and starts dancing around. Ashy soon joins them, knowing she'll get to challenge Crasher Wake now.

Saturn looks slightly annoyed. I smirk, and say, "Annoying bunch, aren't they?" He nods, rubbing his temples. His posture suddenly changes, and he leaves the room. I blink after him in surprise, wondering where he's going. Ashy and the two other girls suddenly zip out of the rooms; obviously going to get ready. Saturn comes back before they do, a bag slung over his shoulder. I blink at him in surprise, "You're coming with us?"

He nods, "Yes, I changed my mind. And besides, you'll probably need more protection from Team Galactic, now, since if they see you, you can possibly get kidnapped. And besides, where's the fun in traveling alone?"

"There is none," I tell him, standing up, returning my Pokemon to their Pokeballs. Well, except for Sury. She takes up her spot on top of my head.

"Surskit!" She chirps happily. I smile, and pat her head, before glancing to the hallway as the girls come in. They're all in their normal clothing, with their bags over their shoulders, and their Pokemon in their Pokeballs. Well, except for a few exceptions; being Dark, Violet (Gabi's Espeon), and Pinprick (Feather's Prinplup).

"Everyone ready to go?" Saturn asks, as Bronzong floats besides him. Simultaneous nods ripple through the group, before we're taking off. We head out of the house, down the steps, before heading towards the road that leads to Pastoria. The looks on all the girls' faces are priceless, as they look around the forest, looking amazed. "God," Saturn begins, shaking his head, "You three look like you've never seen a forest before," he finishes, a small smirk gracing his lips.

Ashy sends him a "piss off" look. "Well, you would look like it too, if you haven't seen nature in nearly a week!" She exclaims, scowling, "Sometimes you don't realize stuff that you'll miss until you're trapped inside a house for almost a week." She says with a sigh, as Dark nods in agreement.

I look out towards the grassy fields, scanning the area for Pokemon. "See any, Sury?" I call up to the Pokemon, trying to block out the noise of the others. Sury shakes her head, and I sigh. That's when suddenly she jumps up on my head, and points a foreleg towards the right, off of the path, and into the forests. "What is it, Sury?" I ask her.

"Sur, Surskit!" She calls. 'I think there's a trainer and Pokemon over there, and I think they're hurt.' As soon as she finishes the sentence, I take off towards the woods. She screeches, and grabs onto my hair.

"Silver! Where are you going?" I hear Ashy call, but I don't respond. I jump over a fallen log, and turn the corner.

'There!' Sury chirps. And that's when I see it. A boy-the same age as me- on the ground with a trainer standing in front of him. The teen on the ground, is holding a Turtwig close to him, and there's a Gallade behind him. The teen on the ground has blonde hair, blue eyes, and glasses. He wears a gray cap on his head, with the outline of a Pokeball on it, and it's colored in red. He wears a red and gray jacket, with a green shirt underneath, and a blue scarf around his neck. He wears dark blue jeans, and red and gray shoes. The teen standing over the one holding the Turtwig, has dark brown hair, and from what I can tell, blue eyes. He wears a red and blue jacket, with dark blue jeans. He wears a long red scarf, blue goggles (they're rested on top of his head right now), and he wears red and white shoes.

"A deals a deal!" The boy with the blue goggles say, moving towards the kid with glasses. "Now, hand over the Turtwig!"

"No!" The kid with glasses says, clutching the Pokemon tighter. The kid with goggles purses his lips, before bending down, and looks like he's going to pry the Pokemon out of the kids' arms.

"Hey!" I shout, running forward, and grabbing the kid with goggles' arm. He whips on me. "You can't just take his Pokemon."

"Oh yeah?" The kid snickers, "Says who?"

"Says me," I say, pulling out a Pokeball, and enlarging it. The kid with glasses opens his eyes, and peers at me, as I say, "Obviously you two made a deal; if you won, you'd get his Turtwig," I say, nodding to the kid with goggles, "And if he won, he got to keep his Turtwig." I say, nodding to the kid with said Pokemon. "Now," I say, glaring at the kid with goggles, "Me and you will have a Pokemon battle. Two on two. If I win both rounds, he gets to keep his Turtwig. If you win both rounds-or one round-then you get the Turtwig, deal?"

The kid with goggles cocks his head back, before nodding, "Alright...deal." He says, shaking my head, glaring at the kid with glasses.

"Name?" I ask, as my sister and the others run into the clearing. I hate calling this kid "goggles kid". It really gets on my nerves.

"Dean." He says, smirking.

"Silver," I say, and his face goes pale as he recognizes me. Haha, stupid bastard. I think to myself, before Dean walks to the other side of the clearing, and turns towards me. I stand in front of the kid with the Turtwig.

Saturn-obviously realizing what's happening-steps towards us, but doesn't get in between us. Obviously, he's acting as the referee. "This will be a two on two battle, between Silver, and this guy!" He says, motioning to Dean. "Battle...begin!" He says, and steps back.

"Go, Monferno!" Dean calls, throwing out the Pokemon.

"Go, Venom!" I call, throwing out said Pokemon. I hope to god I win both of these battles; for both that Turtwig's and that kids' sake.


	11. Chapter 11

"Go, Monferno, use Flare Blitz!" Dean commands his Pokemon. Monferno charges towards Venom.

"Venom, use Gust to send it back towards him!" I command. Venom flaps its wings hard, sending the flares back towards the Monferno. It-meaning the gust attack, and the flares-hits the Monferno hard, sending it flying backwards. Dean gapes at my Venomoth, before recovering slightly.

"Monferno, use Mach Punch!" He commands. Monferno runs at Venom, and hits him hard. Venom lets out a cry as he flies backwards.

Venom fluffs out its wings, forcing itself to stop. "Good job, Venom!" I call to the Pokemon. "Now, Venom, use Poison Fang!" I command. Venom dives forward, fangs glowing purple, and he bites down on the Monferno. Monferno lets out a cry of pain, before stumbling backwards, and wincing. Obviously, he got poisoned. "Now, Venom, attack it again! This time, with tackle!"

"Venomoth!" Venom cries, before tackling Monferno. Monferno lets out a cry, before falling backwards, and fainting.

"Monferno is unable to battle, the winner is Silver and Venomoth!" Saturn says, raising his left arm towards me.

"Good job, Venom," I say, returning the Pokemon.

I watch as Dean grits his teeth, before tossing out a Pokeball, "Go, Seviper!" The snake Pokemon comes out, hissing, and sticking out its forked tongue.

"Go, Snatch!" I say as I throw out my Arbok's Pokeball. Sury seems disappointed, as she lets out a sigh, and curls up on my head. "Snatch, use Crunch!" I command. The snake Pokemon flies forward, biting down upon Seviper's head. Seviper lets out a cry, and falls backwards.

I feel the kids' gaze on me, and I glance back at him, as Dean commands his Seviper to use Night Slash. "What?" I ask the kid, narrowing my eyes at him, before turning to the battle, and commanding Snatch to use Crunch once again. I then turn my gaze towards the kid.

"...Why are you helping me?" He asks slowly, as the Turtwig and Gallade peer at me.

"Because you looked like you needed help," I say, before turning back to the battle. "Snatch, use Fire Fang!" Snatch lets out an "Arrrboook!" before zipping at the Seviper, biting down on its neck. The Seviper lets out a screech, and falls backwards, before using Bite as commanded.

"That's hardly a reason." The boy says.

I turn and glare at him. "Look, stop questioning this, or I can just turn right around and tell Dean he can have your Turtwig, and just walk away. Which shall it be?" That shuts him up. I give a yawn, before looking at Snatch, "Alright, Snatch, enough playing around." That makes Dean's face flush, "Finish this up, and use Bulldoze!"

"Arbok!" Snatch cries, before diving at the Seviper. Seviper lets out a cry, before collapsing on the ground; fainted.

"Seviper is unable to battle. The winner is Silver and Snatch!" Saturn says, raising his left arm towards us.

Snatch and Sury let out cries of happiness. I grin, then return Snatch. Dean's looking at me, stunned. Suddenly, he gets angry, "Fine! I didn't even want the stupid Turtwig anyways!" He shouts, before turning, and running into the woods. I snicker, and turn to the kid with the Turtwig.

"Hey are you okay?" I ask, reaching a hand out to him. He grabs it, and pulls himself up.

"Thanks," he murmurs.

"You're welcome, ...?" I trail off, signaling he hasn't given me his name.

"Cast. Cast Freelance." The kid-Cast-says with a sigh. "But really, thank you for your help. Without you, I'd have lost Leafy." He says, holding the Turtwig tight. A little too tight, from the looks of it.

"Er...yeah," I begin, rubbing the back of my head, "No problemo! Anytime, I guess." I say, as the others walk up to me.

"Nice job, bro!" Ashy says, high fiving me. I roll my eyes, and high five back. Everyone else-besides Gabi and Cast-congratulate me on the win. Gabi just peers into the forest, arms crossed across her chest, and she looks somewhat mad. I bet she's thinking, 'I wish we could get to Pastoria City', or something along those lines.

I turn to look at Cast. "Be more careful next time. Don't make deals with people unless you know you can beat them." I say, glancing at a Pokemon. "Especially if it's a Pokemon." I murmur under my breath, before shoving my way past the group, and heading out towards the path. When I realize the group isn't following, I glance behind me to see Saturn giving me a "oh dear god" look. I frown, and walk back over to the group, to see Gabi, Ashy, and Feather crooning over the little Turtwig; Leafy. The Turtwig was soaking up the attention, and had jumped from Cast's arms into Ashy's.

Cast stands up, and blinks at the girls. He then shakes his head, as Garden comes over of her Pokeball, and floats over to the Gallade, who I think Cast called "Ade"? I don't know...

Garden smiles at the Gallade, and she brings out some Oran Berries she was holding, and hands them to Ade. Ade smiles appreciatively, and eats them. I look towards Saturn, who's looking irritated. "At first they were all excited to get to Pastoria. Now they're crooning over a Turtwig." He says, glancing at the girls.

I nod in agreement, "Their attitudes change on a dime. It's scary. Really scary." Saturn chuckles at that, and then turns to face the forest.

"Hm...I just realized it's been about five years since I've actually been able to walk through this forest, and actually enjoy it." He mumbles, as Bronzong, floats down, and settles on the ground, waiting for the girls to get done crooning over the Turtwig.

"I see..." I say to Saturn, before turning to look at the girls. Cast is standing there like he doesn't know what to do. I sigh, and say to the girls, "Let Cast have his Turtwig back! I'm sure he'd like to get on his way...to wherever the heck he's heading." The girls sigh, before mumbling something to each other. Ashy hands the Turtwig back, before the three of them walk over to Saturn and I.

"Okay..." my sister says, looking disappointed, "Let's go..."

"Finally," Saturn and I say at the same time. The girls roll their eyes, before pushing through us to take off towards the path. Saturn and I have to hurry to catch up. Once we do, we let the girls chat ahead of us, and we talk about nothing in particular as we head to Pastoria.

As we walk into town, through the big, lighten up sign, I get a sense of deja vu. Wasn't it, about over a week ago, I was here, being taken by Team Galactic grunts? I shake my head, trying to clear myself of that thought...

"We've still got three hours until the Gym closes," Feather says, speaking to Gabi, Ashy, and I. "If any of you want too, I'm sure you can go challenge Crasher." She adds, curling a piece of green hair around her index finger, and studies it. Sometimes, I think she's a little nutty in the head. Huh, that's bad when I can say that and I've barely known her for a month. Not even two weeks, even.

"I'll do it!" Ashy says confidently with a grin. "What about you, Silver? Are you going to face the "Big and Bad, Crasher Wake" today?" She turns to me, with an expectant look. Everyone turns to look at me too; except for Saturn. Saturn mumbles something about looking for the Pokemon Center, and heads off.

I shrug. "I'll just watch." I tell them, "I'll battle him tomorrow." Gabi narrows her eyes, as Ashy blinks at me in surprise, then sticks out her tongue.

"You just want to see what kind of Pokemon he's using so you can stack them against him. You're a cheater, you know that?" She grins madly, and begins to head to the Gym. I shove my hands in my pockets, and follow.

"Maybe I do." I state boredly, as Feather and Gabi follow my sister into the Pokemon Gym. I follow them inside, after waiting for Saturn to reappear from the Pokemon Center. I waved him over, before going inside.

"Challenge accepted!" I hear Crasher say to my sister, and he sounds a little angry. Huh, so Ashy must have busted out the "you're-just-too-scared-to-battle-me" card, and Crasher must have gotten infuriated and decided that his pride meant more than his Pokemon so he accepted Ashy's challenge...

I walk up the stairs, and into the stands, walking along the first row of bleachers until I get to the spot where Gabi, and Feather are sitting. "You missed it!" Feather chirps, "Ashy spit some insults at that weird man, and he turned bright red!"

"That usually happens when she speaks to Gym Leaders," I say with a sigh, remembering all the times Ashy would video call me, and tell me about how red the Gym Leaders got. It actually got boring after a while...

"I wonder what Pokemon she's going to use," Gabi murmurs to herself, but she said it loud enough for it to jerk me out of my thoughts.

"Who knows with her." Feather says, shaking her head, "Remember last time with Fantina, she pulled out that Sableye? I didn't even know she had a Sableye, to be honest." Pinprick sits up next to Feather, and it swings its legs boredly. I remember that Sableye; Ashy was ecstatic when she caught it. She wouldn't shut up. Gabi just nods in agreement.

"Go, Gyarados!" Crasher calls, throwing out said Pokemon into the water. The Gyarados brings its head back, and before throwing its head forward, and letting out a powerful roar.

Ashy doesn't seem fazed, as she says, "Go, Speed!" and out comes her Scizor. I hum slightly to myself, and wonder when Ashy had the time to get Speed from the PC; well, I mean from Professor Oak. "Speed, use Steel Wing!" She commands the bug and steel type Pokemon. Speed's wings glow a light gray color, as he zips at the Gyarados, and cuts it across the middle. The Gyarados looks hardly fazed by it.

"Use Dragon Rage!" Crasher commands the Pokemon. Gyarados' mouth begins to glow purple, and yellow, before it spits the attack out at Speed. Speed dodges it, flying around the stadium, but it fails to dodge the attack completely, because it ends up getting hit by the attack. Speed falls to the ground with a loud thud, but he soon shoots up, wings buzzing.

"Huh," Crasher speaks, admiring the Scizor, "That's a pretty strong Pokemon you have; for being a girl." Ashy purses her lips, and looks at the Gym Leader, annoyed. I glance towards the entrance as the doors open, and in walks Saturn. He looks around the Gym, before spotting us. He walks over, and sits down next to me.

"Who's winning?" He asks, absentmindedly.

"Right now, I think its a tie." I state, as Ashy goes to make her next move.

"Use Hyper Beam!" Ashy commands the Pokemon. Speed raises one of it's claws, opens it, and a small, glimmering, silver ball appears. It slowly gets bigger, until he fires it. It hits the Gyarados in the face, and it staggers, letting out a cry. It falls backwards, next to Crasher. Crasher didn't even look fazed.

"Gyarados, get up!" He commands the Pokemon, who gets up. "Use Bite!" Gyarados darts at Speed, and bites down on it. Speed struggles to get out of its grip. "Now, toss it into the wall!" Gyarados turns, and chucks Speed towards the wall.

"Scizzooorr!" Speed cries out.

"Speed, stop yourself!" Ashy shouts. Speed brings his wings out, and manages to stop himself. "Now, use False Swipe!" I blink in surprise. I didn't know Speed knew False Swipe. Hm...Better keep that in mind.

"Doesn't False Swipe always knock the foe's Pokemon down to one HP?" Saturn asks me. I nod, and know that with the next attack, Gyarados will have fainted. Speed strikes Gyarados with its claw.

"Now, Speed, use U-Turn!" Speed strikes Gyarados, knocking it backwards. The Gyarados crumples on the ground across from Crasher; fainted. Crasher returns the Pokemon, as Speed goes back into its Pokeball.

"Hm..." Crasher hums, absentmindedly. "Go, Quagsire!"

"Quagsire!" The Pokemon calls, landing on one of the plate forms in the water. Ashy seems to be contemplating her next move.

"She's going to bring out an electric type," I state duly, staring down at the field. I see Ashy's hand twitch, and I know she's trying to see if it's a good idea. It's not...she should be saving that electric type for his last Pokemon. Electric type moves have no effect on Quagsire.

"What?" The others gasp.

"She can't be that stupid!" Gabi snaps, "She's got to have some better brains than that! Electric type moves have no effect on ground."

"I think she realizes that, and just wants the challenge," I tell Gabi slowly. Gabi snaps her jaw shut, and mumbles how "Ashy's being stupid".

"Go, Mimi!" She shouts, throwing out a Pokeball. When the light disappears, in its spot, sits a Minun.

"Minun?" Mimi asks, quietly. She spots the Quagsire, and suddenly looks scared. "MINUN!" She turns to run back to Ashy, but that's when it realizes it's standing on a plate form, and realizes she has no choice but to battle the Quagsire. She slowly turns, to face the Pokemon.

"Quagsire, use Sludge Bomb!" Crasher calls.

"Dodge it, Mimi!" Ashy shouts. Mimi dodges it just in time. "And use Grass Knot!" I knew that move was coming up, because Ashy once used that move to K.O. one of my water type Pokemon. When the attack hits, it knocks the ground and water type Pokemon back into the water.

"Quagsire!" Crasher calls once again, "Come up and use Ice Beam!" The Pokemon shoots out of the water-in front of Mimi-and hits her in the face with the attack. Mimi lets out a screech, and falls back into the water.

"Mimi!" Ashy calls in desperation. Pretty soon, Mimi comes to the surface on Quagsire's head, fainted. I sigh. Mimi's still a weak Pokemon; not as high leveled at the others Ashy has. I think Mimi's around level 23, but I don't know. But that was not a wise Pokemon to use against Crasher. "Return," Ashy says, bowing her head. She then grows still, as she thinks about the Pokemon to use next. She grabs a Pokeball, and tosses it up in the air. "Go, Speed." Out comes the Scizor once more.

"Use Metal Claw!" Ashy commands the Pokemon. Scizor's claws grow a light silver, before he darts forward, hitting Quagsire hard. Quagsire flies backwards, as Crasher commands it to use Ice Beam. "Dodge it!" She shouts. Speed dodges it. "Now, use Brick Break!" Speed darts at the Pokemon, and uses it claw to hit the Quagsire on the head, before using its other claw to punch the Pokemon in the stomach, and sending it flying back to Crasher.

Crasher stares dumbfounded at Speed as he returns the Quagsire. "Hm...so that's what Ashy's waiting for..." I mumble to myself.

"Waitin' for what?" Feather asks.

"The perfect opportunity to bring out the Pokemon she's been training non stop." I say.

"How do you know she's been training it non stop!?" Gabi snaps at me, "You aren't the one travelling with her!"

"Yes, that may be true, but she's my sister." I say calmly, "She does call me weekly to catch up, and if I remember correctly, she had this one Pokemon she was training really hard, so it could go up against Crasher's Pokemon."

"Do you happen to know which Pokemon that is?" Saturn asks, curiously.

I shake my head. "No, she said she wanted it to be a secret...Don't know why."

"Well," he says, turning back to the arena, as Ashy picks up a Pokeball. "I guess we're about to find out."


	12. Chapter 12

Ashy picks up a Pokeball, and looks down at it. She gives a slight smile, before tossing it upwards into the air, giving a slight flick of her wrist to make it spin as it goes up. The two girls lean forward slightly, eager to see the Pokemon my sister has trained.

A smile lights up her face, as she says, "Go, Palm!" Out spurts the white light from the Pokeball, and it lands on one of the plate forms. The white light forms a tall figure, and it looks like leaves are spurting out of its head. Gabi and Feather wait patiently as the light dims, to reveal the Pokemon.

"Exeggutor!" The girls, and Saturn, fall backwards in their seats. I'm not surprised by this edition to Ashy's team; she usually goes after Pokemon with potential that cannot be seen.

"An Exeggutor?!" Gabi gasps, as she pushes herself upright. "Is she that stupid?! The only possible moves an Exeggutor could know that is good against water types, is Wood Hammer, Seed Bomb, and Leaf Storm; and that would take years of training for it to be able to learn those moves. She really must be stupid."

"I wouldn't be surprised if she taught it some...peculiar, moves." I say slowly, looking down at the field.

"Peculiar moves or not!" Gabi snaps, straightening up in the seat, as Saturn and Feather slowly recover from the shock. "If that Floatzel knows any Ice type moves, she's screwed, 'cause Ice type moves are super effective against Grass!"

"You act like she was born yesterday and doesn't know anything about Pokemon." Saturn says, glancing at the arena. "I'm sure she knows enough that it shouldn't be a problem; and she also has her Scizor to back her up." Gabi just snaps her jaw shut, crosses her arms, and looks to the field, somewhat angrily.

"Well," Gabi spats, "She can kiss that Fen Badge goodbye, then." I just roll my eyes, and don't say anything else.

"Floatzel!" Crasher yells, "Use Ice Fang!"

"Palm!" Ashy shouts, "Use Confusion, and knock it backwards!" Palm's eyes glow pink, and suddenly the Floatzel gets shot backwards, and its fangs stop glowing with ice. The Exeggutor does a small happy dance, before Ashy commands him to, "Use Hypnosis on Floatzel!" As the Floatzel struggles up, Palm hops from platform to platform, until it reaches the Floatzel. The water Pokemon looks up at the Grass and Psychic just in time to get blasted in the face by the Hypnosis. The Pokemon's eyes droop, and slowly close.

"Good job, Palm!" Ashy shouts, "Now, use Wood Hammer!" Palm uses that said attack, and Floatzel remains asleep. Crasher gets mad, and starts shouting at his Pokemon to wake up, but it's a futile attempt.

"Use Leaf Storm!" Ashy calls once again. Palm whips its head, sending leaves scattering across the floor towards the Floatzel. The attack hits its target, and the Floatzel still doesn't wake up. "Finish it off with Solarbeam!" The Exeggutor's mouth opens, and a yellow light begins to appear, and grow. The Floatzel wakes up, as soon as the attacks shoots from Palm's mouth. It hits the Pokemon, and sends it flying backwards into a wall, smoke, and plaster blowing up everywhere. Everyone coughs, and covers their mouths, trying not to inhale any bits of the plaster. When the smoke clears, Palm is standing on top of a fainted Floatzel. Ashy lets out a whoop, before hopping on the platforms over to Crasher, and her Pokemon. She hugs the grass and psychic type Pokemon, saying something about a job well done.

Crasher sighs, before handing Ashy the Fen Badge, and tells her something, before disappearing into the back room. Ashy looks towards us, and motions us to leave, as she hops from platform to platform, until she makes her way to the entrance. She hops off of the last platform, where we're waiting for her.

"Crasher wasn't too harsh to you about over self confident, was he?" Feather asks, "'Cause Gardenia was really harsh to you when you got overconfident, and then whipped her butt." Which, I remember that too, because she called me laughter that night, laughing really hard about it.

"No, he told me that was a job well done." Ashy says with a shrug, even though I can tell she's lying. Crasher must have said something really bad to her, if she doesn't want us to know about it.

Feather slowly nods, before Saturn says, "We've got two rooms at the Pokemon Center; one for the girls, and one for Silver, and I." I glance at him, and nod, as the others murmur something about how "it's stupid to buy two rooms when we could all just fit in one".

"Next time," Ashy chirps, "We can all just share a room. Saturn and I could squeeze into one bed." Saturn's face pales. My sister frowns at him. "What's wrong, Saturn?" She asks, batting her eyelashes at him. "I don't bite...Much."

I narrow my eyes at her and Saturn, as a light blush spreads over Saturn's cheek. Did they know each other, before recently? Or, have they both suddenly got feelings for each other? "Or, even better," Gabi says, sarcastically, "You two can share the second room tonight."

"No," I suddenly snap, cringing at the idea of my sister sleeping in the same room with a boy; it disturbs me...

Since our father practically disowned us, I guess you can say I took over the "overly-protective father" role, and tried to protect my sister as best I could. From Team Rocket, from wild Pokemon, from the world, and from the most dangerous evil out there...

Boys.

Everyone turns to look at me. Gabi snorts, and says, "Jeez, Silver, I was kidding. Learn to take a joke." Rage begins to boil inside me at the comment, because I have a sense of humor; and that was not at all humorous. But, I try to suppress the rage, with a deep breath.

"Whatever the hell you say, Gabi," I say to her calmly, before pushing my way through the entrance to stand outside of Pastoria City's Gym. The others follow me, and suddenly a blurr attacks me, knocking me over. "Agh!" I cry, falling backwards.

"Silver!" The others-besides Gabi- gasp, as I'm suddenly forced down onto the ground. The other person, is surprisingly heavy.

"I'm fine," I tell the others, before shoving the dude off. I look him up and down, with a scowl. He's got crazy, blonde hair, and I can't see his eye color. He's wearing a orange and white striped shirt, with a green scarf, and blue jeans.

"Hey!" He shouts, jumping up, "Watch where you're going! Now, I'm going to be late!"

"Maybe you wouldn't be late if YOU had watched where YOU were going." I say, standing up, and dusting myself off. "God, what are you? An idiot? Because that's what you seem like; for running towards a gym when anyone could walk out at any moment."

The kid bristles, his orange eyes flashing. "I am not the idiot here! It's you! Why the heck would you block the Gym entrance?!"

"Because the Gym's closed," my sister snaps at him, and points her thumb to the door. The kid looks towards it, to see the "closed" sign. The kid's jaw drops, and he suddenly looks angry, until he sees Ashy's Fen Badge. "W-wha? You beat Crasher?"

"Yup."

"YOU?" He questions again, still looking shocked. "B...but you're a total weakling! You couldn't have beat Crasher!"

She narrows her eyes at him. "You have a lot of room to talk; considering you look like a weakling yourself."

"I am not!"

"Prove it; show me your badges," the kid grumbles, before pulling out his badge case, and showing her the his badges. He's got three badges. Ashy busts out laughing, and pulls out her badge case, showing him six of her badges; having all the badges except for Cadence's, and Volkner's. The kid frowns at that, before shoving his badge case away.

"Okay, so maybe you're not a weakling," he states, "But I bet HE is," he says, pointing to me, "'Cause it doesn't look like he has the Fen Badge."

I narrow my eyes at him. "I don't need to have the Fen Badge; I won the Indigo League a couple years ago; I don't have to prove my strength to you. As far as I'm concerned; you're just some stupid punk who thinks they're better than everyone."

The kid bristles visibly. "Do you even know who I am?"

"No," I say, ripping my shoulder away from the kid. "And I don't care."

The kid curls his upper lip. "I am the son of the strongest trainer in Sinnoh!"

"That being...? Sorry kid, I'm not from Sinnoh, so I could really care less."

"Palmer!" The kid says, irritated. "My dad is Palmer!"

"Cool, good for you," I respond.

The kid goes quiet. "...That's all you have to say?" I nod, rolling my eyes. "Well, I'm going to make you remember the name Palmer!" The kid shouts, whipping out a Pokeball. "Because I'm going to battle you right here, right now, and beat you!" The kids' voice is incredibly loud, and annoying.

"Trust me, kid, you're loud and annoying enough that that name will stick in my head." I say, annoyed. The kid looks seriously pissed off.

"Look!" Gabi says finally, standing in between us, glaring at the kid, "He'll battle you tomorrow, but right now, we're all tired, and want to go to bed."

"Fine," the kid continues to glare at me. "Meet me here tomorrow at one o'clock, and don't be late!" He yells once again, before taking off.

Feather shakes his head. "Wow, he moves faster than a Scyther on sugar." She mumbles. I snicker at the comment, as we head to the Pokemon Center. We walk inside, and Saturn hands out the room keys, before we go our separate ways.  
"We should have two other roommates; I don't know who they are, but we should be expecting them..." I only nod, as Saturn explains the whole situation to me, and shoves the key in the lock. He turns up, and pushes the door open. We walk inside, and both of us freeze as we see the other two people in the room. It's Cast-who I don't really mind rooming with...-, and...

That stupid kid from earlier.

"Not you!" The kid shouts angrily, flopping back down on the top bunk. Cast glances up from the book he's reading, and adjusts his glasses.

I snort, before climbing on the top bunk across from the blonde haired kid. "Trust me, kid," I respond to him, a bit snarkily, "I'm not pleased either." The kid purses his lips, before flopping back down on the bunk.

Cast blinks at Saturn and I, before turning his gaze to me. "Aren't you the one who saved my Turtwig?" I only nod in response, before rolling over away from them. Then the blonde haired kid says (shouts) something about an Empoleon.

Ugh...this is going to be a loonnnnggg night.


	13. Chapter 13

I wake up in the morning, to feel something poking at my face. I blink open my eyes, and roll over onto my side, to come face to face with Gabi. I let out a scream of shock, and shoot straight up on the bunk bed, whacking my face on the ceiling. I let out a small hiss, before rubbing at my face, and turning to Gabi. "Gabi, what the heck!" I spit out angrily at her. I glance around, and see no one else in the room. I'm left alone with Gabi, greatttt... "What are you doing here?!"

She blinks at me. "I came here to get you."

"Why didn't Saturn or someone else come and get me?" I question, hopping down from the bunk. I feel awkward standing before Gabi-a girl-in just my boxers. Just, my boxers. That, is the most awkward thing in the world.

"Saturn, and Ashy went to go get some supplies. Feather is talking to Cast, and Barry is terrified of you." She states, as she looks out the sliding glass door. I move over to my bag, where I pull out a black t-shirt, and pull it on.

"So that's the kids' name, Barry," I murmur to myself. I snatch my jeans out of the bag, and slip into those as well. I turn to her. "He's terrified of me, eh?" I snort. "I probably expected that..." I murmur the last sentence to myself, before grabbing my jacket. I turn to Gabi, as I slip into it. "I'm guessing Barry sent you in here, so he could battle me. Is that correct?"

Gabi nods, as I snatch up my Pokeball holster. I wrap it around my waist, before grabbing my gloves. I sigh once again. "Of course, that's the first thing on that dumb kids' mind...a Pokemon battle..." I slip on the gloves, before heading out of the room, Gabi on my heels. We walk into the main area of the Pokemon Center, and Barry jumps up.

"You! Battle, now!" He shouts, before running out of the center. I sigh, shake my head, before walking out of the center. He's shifting from foot to foot uneasily, giving me a harsh look. He snatches up a Pokeball. "Hurry hurry hurry!" Barry chirps, looking at me.

I roll my eyes once again, and head to the opposite side of the field, before turning to face the kid. Barry shifts on his feet, looking at me expectantly. I pick up a Pokeball, as Barry tosses his out. "Go, Skarmory!" He shouts. The red light diminishes, and the Skarmory lifts its head, before flapping its wing, and taking flight.

"Go, Tyrant!" I shout, throwing out the Pokeball. My Tyranitar lifts its head, and lets out a cry, before looking up at the Skarmory. Barry's jaw drops slightly, as he looks at my Tyranitar. He quickly shakes it off.

"Skarmory, use Steel Wing!" Skarmory's wings glow silver, before he dives at Tyrant. I roll my eyes. A rookie mistake...

Tyrant lets out a yawn, as he grabs Skarmory's wing, as the Pokemon turns to hit the Armor Pokemon. Barry and Skarmory let out a gasp of surprise. The Armor Pokemon grins, as I say plainly, "Tyrant, use Incinerate." The fire builds in the Pokemon's mouth. Skarmory begins to struggle, but the Pokemon has too strong of a grip on it.

"Skarmory, get out of there!" Barry calls frantically, biting his lower lip. I cross my arms, as Tyrant lets out the fire flow out of his mouth, hitting the Steel type Pokemon. The Pokemon lets out a cry, as Tyrant lets it go, and sends it flying backwards. Barry watches, as his Pokemon gets shot past him by my Tyranitar's Incinerate. The Skarmory quickly recovers, and hops up. "Use Drill Peck!" Barry says, and he cheers loudly when his Pokemon manages to land the attack.

'...Is this some kind of joke?' Tyrant thinks to me, as he doesn't move from the weak attack. I shrug, before saying, "Tyrant, Fire Fang." Tyrant's mouth glows with fire quickly, and before the Skarmory can get away, Tyrant dives downwards, and clamps down on the Pokemon's neck. Skarmory cries out in pain, and can't get away. I flick a piece of my bangs out of my eyes. "Tyrant," I say, boredly, "Finish it off with Thunder Fang." He quickly changes his attack, his mouth changing from fire to electricity in a split second. The Skarmory's cries get louder, until it goes completely silent. Tyrant drops the fainted Pokemon.

Barry stares at his Pokemon, before returning it. I return Tyrant, also. "Go, Staraptor!" Barry shouts, throwing out said Pokemon.

I pick up a Pokeball, and toss it in the air. "Go, Screech!" I call, and out comes said Loudred. At that moment, Saturn and Ashy decide to come back. They blink when they see me battling the stupid kid, and walk over to where Gabi, Cast, and Feather are standing.

"Go, Staraptor, use Close Combat!" Staraptor dives at Screech.

"Dodge it!" I shout, knowing the move is super effective Screech. Screech jumps out of the way just in time. "Use Ice Beam!" I shout. Screech begins to charge the attack.

"Staraptor, dodge it!" Barry calls as Screech fires the attack.

"Follow the Staraptor, Screech!" I command. Screech turns, and continues using the attack, until it clips Staraptor's wings. The Pokemon hurdles to the ground, before leveling out.

"Staraptor, use Close Combat again!" Staraptor dives at Screech, and uses the attack on her.

"Loudred!" Screech screeches, as she's tossed backwards. She stands up weakly, as Staraptor takes to the skies once again. She lets out a growl, before she starts to glow white. I give a small smile, as Barry stares at her dumbfounded, knowing what's happening. She grows taller, and wider, than the glowing stops. "Exploud!" Screech calls, glaring at Staraptor.

I smirk slightly. "Use Brick Break," I tell Screech. She gladly performs the move, making Staraptor crash into the ground.

"Staraptor, get up!" Barry commands. The Pokemon weakly rises. "Use Close Combat once again!" Staraptor flies at Screech, and hits it once with its wing, and once with its talon, and Screech is falling to the ground. I sigh, and return Screech, as Barry boasts about how good he is. He returns Staraptor, before throwing out Empoleon.

"Go, Tsunami," I say, as I toss out my starter Pokemon's Pokeball. The Big Jaw Pokemon growls threateningly at the Emperor Pokemon.

"Use Grass Knot!" Barry calls. Empoleon runs at Tsunami, preparing to use the attack.

"Ice Punch, Tsunami," I say, as soon as Empoleon gets within Feraligatr's reaching distance. Tsunami's right arm glows light blue, and covers with ice. He punches Empoleon in the face, before the Pokemon can successfully land its attack. "Now, attack it again with Ice Fang." Tsunami's fangs glow, as he snaps his jaw down on the Empoleon's face. The Empoleon lets out a cry, and flies backwards. It rubs at its face, before glaring at Tsunami.

"Empoleon, uses Grass Knot once again!"

"Ice Punch," I say, dryly. Tsunami rolls his eyes, before doing what he did earlier. Barry must not seem to be learning from his past mistakes. "Again," I say, boredly, "Again, again, again." Each time I say "again", Tsunami hits Empoleon with the attack. Empoleon stumbles backwards. Tsunami goes forward, to finish off the Steel and Water type Pokemon, when suddenly...

"Stop!" Barry says, stumbling over his words. "I...I forfeit. Please, don't hit Empoleon!" Tsunami glances at me, and I nod to him that he shouldn't attack Empoleon. Tsunami's arm stops glowing, and he walks back over to me, as Barry rushes to his Empoleon. He admittedly begins to take care of his Pokemon, by using Hyper Potions, and Super Potions on him.

Tsunami grins happily as I pull out some Oran Berries, and hold them out to him. He bends down, and eats them off of my hand, like he has always done since he was a Totodile. I know, and I'm sure he knows, that he's big enough now, that there is really no need for me to hand feed him, but it's just something that I have always done when Tsunami eats any berries, and I will probably do it for the rest of my life.

"Guess I was wrong about you..." Barry murmurs, as he walks over to me. I just glance at him, as I continue to hand-feed Tsunami the berries. "You are as strong as you had proclaimed..." I roll my eyes at his lame statement. "I am sorry..." he finishes.

"For what?" I ask, raising an eyebrow, as a I turn to look at him. I really have no idea why he's apologizing. Apologizing for assuming things? What?

"For being a weak opponent!" Barry shouts, his eyes suddenly glowing with determination. "I am going to get stronger! And once I do, I will defeat you!"

"That's great, kid," I say, shoving my hands in my pockets. "See you around," I add, before turning on heel, and walking towards the Pokemon Center, where my friends are waiting.

"Hey! I got an idea!" Barry says, running after me. He slows his pace once he's right next to me. "Maybe you could train me? You could be my master of a sort!" I give him a strange look.

"Sorry kid, but no," I tell him, as our Pokemon follow behind.

"Aww why? It'd be fun! I could give you some extra practice, and you could get me stronger! It's fair, and we both get experience out of this! Pleeeaaaasssseeeeeeeeeee?" Barry asks, drawing out the "please", incredibly long. His voice gets higher as he draws it out, and eventually my ears begin to ring.

"Fine!" I shout, stopping to turn, and glare at said annoying boy. "But only during the time I am in Pastoria City; once I leave, you're on your own!" Barry's eyes brighten.

"You won't regret it master!" Barry chirps, shaking my hand rapidly. Once he lets go, I make my arm go in circles, and wince slightly, as the joint pops.

"Okay, first off, don't call me "master", and second off, I'm pretty sure I will." I say, walking back towards my friends, who are giving me a peculiar look.

"Okay, master," Barry says, an annoying grin plastered on his face.

Shoot me. NOW.


	14. Chapter 14

"Silver, we need to get going," Ashy says, as I slide into the seat across from her. I had just gotten back from my training with Barry.

"I know," I say with a sigh. We've stayed here in Pastoria City longer than we wanted to, all because of Barry. "But Barry asked me to train him enough so he can take on Crasher, and he's not ready to do that yet," I explain to her.

Gabi-who's sitting next to Ashy-narrows her eyes. "Since when do you care if he's ready to take on Crasher? You didn't even want to be his mentor three days ago." She says, but it's not clipped with malice or disgust like it usually is. I wonder why...

I shrug. "Because I've been spending so much time helping him get better. I don't want all that time to go to waste. When he challenges Crasher, I want him to be ready." I respond. Gabi blinks at me, and something flashes in her eyes-what was it...approval?-before she nods.

"Whether he's ready or not," Ashy says, scowling crossly, "We need to head to Snowpoint City...or Sunnyshore City, or Canalave City! I need to get the next gym badge, before the deadline for Sinnoh's Pokemon League closes...although, I'm sure you don't have to worry about it, Silver," she glares at me slightly.

She is right. I arrived here in Sinnoh much earlier than she did, and I started at Canalave, then slowly worked my way towards towards Sunnyshore. So, I got the badge from Gardenia, Roark, Byron, and Candice first, while other people followed the order of the gyms. All I need now, is Volkner's badge, and I'll be good to go. I shrug, and respond, "Maybe you shouldn't be so slow, and we wouldn't have had this problem." Ashy looks offended, and she gets up, before storming out of the room.

"Great, you pissed Ashy off." Gabi says, shaking her head.

"I only spoke the truth. She always takes forever to beat a gym, because she's never prepared." I say. "I don't like making her mad, but it's true. She's mad at me for taking forever to train Barry, when I could be mad at her for all of the stupid things she has done; to me, and to other people."

Gabi nods. "I know what you mean." she says, with a shake of her head. "I've had that same feeling at her before. Many times, actually." I nod at her.

"I can understand, growing up with her and all," Sury pops out of her Pokeball with a loud cry, and jumps into my lap. I pat her head, with a soft smile. She's gotten stronger, a lot stronger, actually. She's the main Pokemon I have used while training Barry, and she-surprisingly-is incredibly strong. Sury nudges my hand affectionately.

She nods once again. Hm...this is strange. I think to myself. I am actually having a decent conversation with Gabi for once. All of hell most have frozen over, because I don't understand it...

"Silver!" I look up to see Barry running in through the Pokemon Center doors. "Ready to go at training once again?" His eyes spark with enthusiasm.

"Of course," I stand up, and Sury climbs up my arm, and onto my shoulder. I head outside, and take my spot across from Barry.

He pulls out a Pokemon, with a grin, "Go, Heracross!" he calls, as he throws out the Pokemon.

I glance at Sury. She nods, before jumping off of my arm, and running onto the makeshift battlefield.

"HOW!" Barry shouts in frustration as his Heracross faints. "Just how!" he asks, as he pulls out his hair. He walks over to his Heracross, and crouches by it, with a sigh. "Guess we aren't ready to take on Crasher, yet," he says disappointed.

Sury skitters over to me, and hops onto my shoulder. I pat her on the head, before turning to Barry. "Barry, think of it this way. You aren't battling me; you're battling Crasher. You did excellent trying to fend off Sury's attacks; and personally, I think you're ready to take on Crasher."

He just blinks at that. "Y..you're serious?" he asks quietly.

I nod. "Yes," I respond, "I am serious. Do you think I would joke about such a thing?" He's got to be kidding me.

"Wow...wow, thanks." he says, and suddenly his eyes brighten. "Tomorrow morning, I am going to go challenge Crasher! Thank you, Silver, really!" he shouts happily, before taking off into the Pokemon Center.

I watch him go, before stretching, and heading inside. I come face to face with Gabi. "Jesus, sneak up on me much?" I murmur crossly, not really a fan of people randomly coming up unannounced.

"Sorry." she apologizes. She then turns her gaze to where Barry is, and says, "He seems happy. What, is he finally ready to take on Crasher without getting his ass whooped?"

"He is, actually," I say with a sigh, "And now we can finally get moving to Canalave. Which, I don't know about you, I'm pretty excited for. Since that means we'll get to finally leave this stupid city."

She nods in agreement. "I see. Well, I think this city is actually kinda of cool, even though there is not much to do."

I shrug. "I guess so," I respond. "Although, I prefer Canalave better than this. Mostly because it's by water, and it's not so...humid."

Gabi raises an eyebrow. "Why don't you like the humidity? Because your hair frizzes?" she jokes.

I raise an eyebrow right back at her. "It does, actually, frizz."

"Oh," she says dumbly, "In that case, then I can understand why you'd hate the humidity." She shrugs, before looking outside, to see the streetlights, and the light from the other buildings being the only thing that keeps the streets aglow. "Well, I'm going to bed, it's kinda late. I'll tell Ashy, and Feather we can leave, now, and I assume you'll tell Saturn we're leaving tomorrow, right?"

"Of course," I say with a nod, "Good night, Gabi."

"Good night, Silver," she smiles at me. I smile back at her, before heading back to my room, with Sury on my shoulder.

"I want to knoowww about the strangers like me!" Ashy sings, in a disturbingly cheerful voice. I've never heard her so happy in my life; well, except for the time when she got her first Pokemon.

"What the hell are you singing?" Saturn asks, looking very tired.

"Strangers Like Me, from the Tarzan movie," she says with a happy smile, "Feather and I found in on a channel on the TV last night, and watched the whole thing! Now that song is stuck in my head." she adds the last part sheepishly.

"Well, can you please stop?" he pleads, "You're giving me a huge migraine."

"Sorry, Satty," she smiles apologetically. He grumbles something about not wanting to be called Satty, and rests his forehead against the table top. Gabi settles down next to Ashy, with a yawn.

"Didn't get any sleep?" I ask her, as I roll a Pokeball around on the table with my forefinger.

"I got some, but not a lot. All because of Feather and Ashy's singing," she sighs. "Although, I expect I will get some tonight."

"And why is that?" Saturn asks, although his question is muffled by the table. He looks like he could go back to sleep, right here on the spot, and not care if he drooled on the table, or get left behind.

"Feather has to go home," she sighs, "N has requested her to return to Unova, so she is doing exactly what he asks. She left early this morning."

"She didn't even say goodbye," Ashy says sadly, with a frown. Her Umbreon-Dark-is curled up in her lap, and he raises his head when he hears the tone of Ashy's voice. He sits up quickly, and licks her cheek, trying to cheer her up. She smiles sadly, and pats his head.

"Oh...that's too bad," I say, sadly. I liked Feather. She was really nice, and funny when she wanted to be. Although, you didn't want to give her sugar. It'd be a nightmare come to life if you did. Just saying.

"Yeah..." both Ashy and Gabi mumble together.

Ashy rises from her spot, and says, "Well...we should probably head to Jubilife City, so we can catch the ferry to Canalave on time." We all nod in agreement, and stand up too, before heading out of the Pokemon Center.

"I'm tired." Ashy complains, as we get off of the ferry. Considering Canalave is only twenty-three minutes apart from Jubilife City, we didn't really have time sleep, or just...unwind. And lets just say, the other three members of this group isn't taking it well.

Gabi has become awkwardly quiet, Ashy has become a complaining ball of tiredness, and Saturn can barely stand on his own two feet.

"We know you are." I sigh. "We'll head to the Center, and get a room. Then you three babies can go to bed."

"Yay," she mumbles tiredly. I lead them through the city, towards the Pokemon Center. We head inside admittedly, and get two rooms, before bidding each other goodnight, before going into separate rooms.

"Have you noticed something?" Saturn asks, as he flops down onto a bed.

"Noticed what?" I ask calmly, as Sury jumps off of my head, and curls up on the bed. "That all of you, for some reason, are extremely tired?"

"No; not that." he says with a sigh.

"Then what is it?"

"That...well...Gabi is actually being NICE to you for once," he says, shoving his face in the pillow. "You know what? I think she likes you." he says loudly, even though it gets muffled by the pillow.

My face turns bright red. "Seriously, Saturn? Are you that stupid to not see that she absolutely dislikes me?" I ask, slightly tense. But seriously? Come on, Saturn! I thought you were smart!

"I see a lot of things most people don't," he says plainly, lifting his head to turn it and look at me. "And one thing that I have seen that any of you haven't," he begins, "Is her sudden change of...actions towards you. And the way she looks at you, when you aren't looking. It's not as noticeable to others, and I bet she doesn't even realize her own feelings for you yet."

"You're high on something, Saturn," I tell him, my words clipped, as I gather up Sury in my arms, and head to the door. "I'm going out. Don't bother coming to look for me," I head out the door, and down the hallway to the main lobby. I send a nod to Nurse Joy, before heading outside. I cross the bridge, and head south to the ferry that will take trainers to Iron Island.

It's about a forty five minute ride to Iron Island, and once I get there, I practically sprint to the cave. Once I get inside, I take a deep breath, and let out a shaky breath. Saturn's words have been eating at me ever since I let the Pokemon Center. I mean; what if it is true? But, yet again, no one can just change as quick as she proclaims. No...its got to be wrong.

Besides, who could love someone who doesn't even know what it feels like to be loved?


	15. Chapter 15

"Sury, use Aqua Jet!" I shout, as I watch Sury launch herself forward, surrounded by water at the Graveler. The Graveler stumbles backwards, almost knocked out. "Use Bubblebeam, to finish it off!" Sury spits the bubbles out of her mouth, and successfully knocks the Graveler out. "Nice job-" I begin, but I'm cut off as Sury suddenly glows. I blink in surprise. Hm...she's evolving into Masquerain. Excellent.

When she's done evolving, she flaps her wing-like ears, and admires her new form. Suddenly, she snaps out of it, and looks at me with a smile. I give a small grin back. Thankfully, all the training has taken my mind off of what Saturn said. "Come on, Sury, lets-" I begin, but stop when I hear footsteps.

I look around, before spotting the stairway, and looking to see who's approaching. A feminine figure comes into view-a very familiar feminine figure. I mentally curse myself when I recognize her. "Gabi, hi," I say sheepishly.

"Hey, Silver," she says, worry evident in her voice. I bite my tongue from saying something. "How long have you been here? It's seven A.M., and Saturn says he never saw you return to the room last night. You really should have come back last night, at least for a little bit, to tell us you were okay. You had us all worried." she says, with a sigh.

I force a smile. "Sorry," I apologize, "I didn't mean for that to happen. I just came here for some little light training."

"Light training?" she asks, like it's a foreign word. She looks at Sury, and snorts to see her fully evolved form. She points to the now Bug and Flying type Pokemon, and says, "That doesn't look like "light training" to me."

I shrug, and respond, "Well, it is to me." She rolls her eyes at that. "Anyways; why are you here? I know you said you were worried, but you could have, oh, I don't know...Called me?"

"You weren't answering." she shoots back. "Even check your Gear; I called you five times, and left you some very harsh emails, and continued to not answer." I scowl at her, pick up my Gear, and then check my messages. Exactly five missed calls, and two voicemails. All from her.

I swallow hard, before looking up at her. "Oh, well, er; you see, a kid by the name of Joey called me earlier, to tell me about his "top percentage of Rattata", then turned it off because I didn't want Sury's and mine's training to get interrupted."

Gabi scrunches up her face. "You seriously gave him your number? Bad move, Silv, bad move." Silv? So, what? We're giving each other "pet names", now? The hell is going on? Did somebody put something in one of my drinks last night?

I shrug, and don't respond, trying her to get the message that she can leave. She looks down at the cave floor, and lightly kicks a rock. "You know, you should come back to the Center before Ashy wakes up. They're serving breakfast soon; and I'm pretty sure you'd like to get some food before the gaping black hole comes to the food court."  
"No," I say quickly, as Sury flies over to me, and lands on my shoulder. "I'm good." Disappointment flashes briefly in her gaze, as she sighs and nods.

"Alright," she says disappointedly, "well...see you later, I guess." Gabi shakes her head, sighing once again, before turning on heel, and leaving.

I watch her figure disappear up the stairway, before turning my head to look at Sury. Sury sends me a look that says "she's got it baddd for you". I wave my hand over my shoulder, as if to say "get". She glares at me, as she flies off of my shoulder, flapping her ears crossly. "Shut it, you," I tell her somewhat angrily. "Because it's not true, I tell you; it is all a lie."

'I'm only telling you the truth, Silver,' she thinks to me, 'And if you're too blind to see it, then so be it.' I roll my eyes at the broad statement. 'Just you wait,' Sury adds, as she flies towards a rock. 'Pretty soon those words will come back, and bite you in the butt.'

"Whatever," I say, my words clipped, "Lets just get back to training. Sury sighs, before flinging herself at a Onix.

"Nice job, Sury," I tell her with a smile. She just glares at me. I sigh, and say, "Okay, I'm sorry for what happened to your leg; but I'll get it fixed, alright? Nurse Joy will heal it for you as soon as we get to the Center." She seems to relax a little bit, and somewhat forgive me.

"Please don't hate me," I continue to speak to her, as I make my way through Canalave City, towards the Pokemon Center. Sury rubs her head against mine, as if to say I'm forgiven. I don't believe it. "It was an accident. I didn't know that rock was going to crush your leg."

'Oh, Silver, just be quiet already. I forgive you.' she says, with a roll of her eyes. I only simply nod, as we cross the bridge, and the Center comes into view.

I walk through the electronic doors, and head to the front desk. "Hello, how may I help-?" Nurse Joy cuts herself off when she sees Sury's leg. She purses her lips, before saying, "Hand her to me, and I will go treat her in the backroom, and run some scans. I will be out in a few minutes."

I nod again. "Okay, thank you," I say. She just nods, and heads out of the main room into the back. At that moment, my stomach growls, and I realize just how hungry I am. I look around, before spotting a sign over a doorway that says, "CAFETERIA". I head through the opening, and into said room. I look around, wondering if the "Gaping Black Hole", and the other two are here. I spot them quickly, over by a window, with Ashy stuffing her face quickly.

I head over to them, and I am automatically met with a glare from Ashy. "Oh, lord," I begin with a sigh, "What did I do now?"

"You never told us where you were going," she says angrily, "You could have been dead! Or worse; kidnapped by Team Rocket." I look towards two of the Pokemon at the table, who both look at me with anger. Violet's ears twitch crossly, and Dark just plain glares at me.

"Like I said earlier to Gabi; I'm sorry," I apologize once again. "Honestly, I thought it was no big deal."

"No big deal!?" Ashy shouts at me, gathering attention from people around us. "You could have been dead for all we knew! And all you have to respond is...is... 'I thought it was no big deal'!" Tears threaten to burst from her eyes.

"Ashy, you know what, you need to calm down." I say, glancing around. "Because you're getting worked up over nothing. Whenever you disappear randomly, I don't freak out, because I know you can take care of yourself."

Her eyes suddenly spark with something I've never seen before. She's all of a sudden got this demonic look in her eyes, and I'm not surprised a cheshire cat grin hasn't spread across her face. Her expression is nothing I can even describe in a sentence...but only one word.

Evil. And she only gets that look when she's faced against Giovanni.

"Y-you know w-what Silver..." she begins, a sickening sweet smile spreading across her face. Gabi and Saturn glance between us. "I-I'm not surprised that you don't freak out... 'Cause honestly, I don't think you care."

I frown. "Are you shitting me? You don't think I care?"

"Yeah; I do," she says, "Because you know what I really think about you, Silver?" My name rolls off her tongue like venom. I swallow hard. She's never spoken my name with so much malice before. "I think you're...you're just a dumb, heartless, bastard. Yup, that's right, "big bro", you heard correct." She steps towards me, her eyes level with mine, "You're a dumb. Heartless. Bastard. You're just like Giovanni; in every way possible." she narrows her eyes, and they turn a dark color of indigo. "And you know what? You're an even shittier brother. I bet you know how to love anything in this world besides your Pokemon; or know how to trust anything besides your Pokemon, for that matter," she hisses.

Her words are like a harsh slap to my face. Does she really mean those words? Or, is it just the anger speaking? "Hey, now! Stop it!" Gabi says, jumping between us. "Don't fight! And Ashy, tell him you don't mean those things!"

"Oh, no," she says, glaring at her (ex?)friend, "Gabi, I mean it. One hundred percent." Her eyes snap to me, before snapping back to Gabi. "I don't even understand why you like him," my sister adds with disgust, pointed directly at me.

Gabi purses her lips, and looks down. "I'm done traveling with you," Ashy speaks to me, "I'm heading to Snowpoint City tomorrow morning, after I defeat Byron tonight." My body is numb, and I can barely register her words. Her previous ones keep running through my head. Especially this one:

You're just like Giovanni; in every way possible.

My heads spins. Am I really like him? No...I can't! That isn't possible...I'm not like him...

Am I?

I can barely register Ashy leaving, and Gabi running after her, before I'm being shook by Saturn. I raise my gaze to his. His eyes show sadness, and sympathy. "Silver, I'm sorry." he says with a sigh. "I'm pretty sure she doesn't mean that."

"You never know with her," I say, tight lipped. "Although, I think it would be better for all of us if we separated. Then no one would be wanting to kill each other." Saturn blinks at me sadly, and nods.

Gabi comes back, and jogs up to us. There's something different with her demeanor, and I can't really put my finger on it. "I am not traveling with her," she says, voice clipped with anger. "She has turned into such a bitch, and I am not going to travel with that!"

Saturn sighs. "Well, I guess I'll go with her, to make sure she doesn't get into any trouble," he says, although, he doesn't sound like he's too disappointed.

"Have fun with that." Gabi responds, sighing sadly, before looking at me, "Guess I'm with you."

"I guess so..." I say with a sigh.

Gabi sends me a worried look. "Silver...you don't really believe those things, do you?"

I raise my gaze to both of them, and send them both a weak smile. "No...of course not!"

Which, is a big fat lie.


	16. Chapter 16

The next morning, I woke up with a throbbing headache. I had a nightmare about me turning out like Giovanni, and losing everything I cared about. I wipe my face with the edge of my shirt, sweating hard. I take a shaky breath, before hopping off of the bed, and checking the time.

8:56 A.M.

I sigh, and debate on whether or not I should go back to bed. I glance over to Saturn's bed, and see him already gone. Maybe he and Ashy have already left? Curious to see if this is true, I pack my things quickly, before taking it with me as I leave the room.

Obviously, my assumption was not correct, because as soon as I walk out of the room, I bump into Ashy. She snaps her head around, glares at me, then proceeds to stomp down the hallway towards the lobby.

I sigh again, before heading to the room Gabi and Ashy once shared. I raise my right hand to knock on the door, and right when I'm about too; the door flies open. I jump back quickly, alarmed. Gabi blinks up at me with wide eyes. "O-oh, hi, Silver. Are you ready to go, or something?"

"Yeah, kinda," I respond, "I really need to get to Sunnyshore City." She nods.

"Okay, I'mma go take a shower, and then packed, then when can go." she says. "Meet me in the cafeteria at the table in the back left corner." I nod at that, and she closes the door. I sigh again, and turn on heel, before walking down the hallway. I head into the cafeteria, not surprised to see Ashy and Saturn already eating off to the side; with their bags already packed. Saturn sends me a nod, and I send a nod right back.

I don't acknowledge Ashy.

I head to the table that Gabi had directed me too, and slide into one of the seats, before crossing my arms, and resting my elbows on the table. I snort quietly to myself, remembering all those times when I was travelling by myself, and I did the exact same thing I'm doing now.

My philosophy back then was: get as far away from people as possible, and do not bring attention to yourself. It worked back then, but sometimes it didn't...

A lot of times, the "town bullies" would confront me, and make fun of me...assuming I was a "Freak". Which, I guess, is kinda true. But, still, they had no right just coming up to me, and saying those things, so a lot of the time...I'd knock them unconscious. Other times, I'd just walk away. Either way; it wasn't the ideal moment of my life.

I sit there quietly for I don't know how long, until Gabi approaches. I look up. Her dark brown hair is still dripping with water, and her bag is slung over her shoulder. I rise from my spot, before saying, "We can eat on the way to Sunnyshore, but we should get going."

She stops in front of me, and nods. "Okay, sounds good." she says, before following me out of the cafeteria, and towards the lobby. We send a nod to Nurse Joy as we exit out the front door. "So, how are we getting to Sunnyshore?"

I grab a Pokeball off of my belt, before tossing it in the air. Out comes my Tropius. "Troopiusss!" she calls, and flaps her wings quickly.

"Flying, of course," I tell Gabi as I nudge her to the giant Pokemon. "It is the fastest possible way to Sunnyshore." Troop swings her head towards us, and flattens her wings down, so we can climb on.

Gabi seems a little nervous. "U-um...can't we walk?"

I shake my head. "No. Why? Are you scared?"

"No," she says quickly, "I just...don't like flying. Although," she glances at my Tropius, "I had a Tropius once...and I was okay flying on her...so I assume yours will be as safe as she was..." she mumbles, as she climbs on my Tropius. I climb on a head of her. Gabi swallows hard, and wraps her arms around my waist.

"Ready?" I ask.

"Yup..." she begins, and scrunches her eyes close.

Taking it as it's okay to start flying, Troop flaps her wings hard, lifting her body off of the ground. "To Sunnyshore!" I shout to her.

"Troo!" she calls back, before turning 40 degrees and heading to the east. Gabi buries her face into my back.

"I dooon'tttt liikkee this!" she says, "This thing is wayy faster that my Tropius!" I give a small laugh at that.

"Just don't look down!" I call back. She nods against my back.

"Okay." she mumbles. Even few seconds, Troop will dive down randomly, and Gabi will let out a screech. I laugh each time at that, although, soon, it gets somewhat annoying. This is going to be a long flight.

We took a small stop Celestic Town, to eat lunch, and just to take a break from flying. "Oh my gosh!" Gabi exclaims, as she jumps off of Troop. The Pokemon flaps it wings, and lets out a happy cry.

"Thank you," I tell her, as I pat her head. She smiles, and nuzzles my face. I smile slightly, before pulling out her Pokeball, and returning her. "Take a long rest." I then return the Pokeball to my belt, and turn to Gabi. "So, there's a diner here near the Center where we could stop and eat, or we could just go to the Center."

"Hm...the diner. I mean; I love the Pokemon Center's food, but some days it gets a little old." she says.

"Agreed." I murmur, before leading her through the small village towards the diner. I push the door open easily, and a bell rings. A lady with dark purple hair, and lavender colored eyes, looks up at the sound.

"Silver! Long time no see!" she exclaims, a bright smile on her face.

"Hello, Lavender," I say, offering a small smile. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Gabi look between me, and Lavender, before heading to a table. I walk over to the counter, trying to get rid of the thought. "How has the business been?" Lavender's about my age, maybe a year older, and has had a very tough life. When she was born, she had a tumor. Her surgery was a success, but about a year later, she almost died when she got pneumonia. After that it was okay, until she was 5. She got diagnosed with cancer once again, and it took her four years before she finally had fully recovered. Then the next year she left for her journey. Her mother died when she 12 years old, so she stopped her journey, and came back to Celestic Town to help her father take care of the diner. Her father slowly got worse, mainly because of the grief of losing his wife, and soon he got diagnosed with lung cancer, and throat cancer. He died when she was 15, and she's had to take care of the diner ever since, which, is very hard for her because she has no one to help her with anything.

For those of you who think I stalked Lavender; you're wrong. She stood up for me in front of some town bullies who thought it'd be cool to gang up on me, and beat the crap out of me. She then took me back here to the diner, where she patched me up. I stayed here for about two weeks to recover, and I got to know her a little bit during that time.

Something flashes in Lavender's eyes, but she manages to keep the smile on her face. "It's been good. We've had a lot of customer's recently; thanks for getting word out about "The Setting Dialga"." she tells me.

I nod. "No problem-and that's good. Your food is really good; you deserve it." She smiles.

"Thank you, Silver, you're too kind." she says, then spots Gabi in the background. A grin suddenly appears on her face. "So, Silver, who's that girl? Is she your girlfriend?" Lavender asks, giggling.

My face turns red. "No, she's just a friend." I say, trying to say it persuasively.

She raises an eyebrow. "Is that so? Then why is she glaring daggers at me? Because, if looks could kill, I'd be dead about five times, now." she says, her grin spreading.

I glance behind me, and sure enough, Gabi is glaring at Lavender-at least, I think she is. I turn back to her. "I'm sure she's glaring me; mainly because I made her fly, and she despises flying. And another reason would be that I'm making her wait."

Lavender blinks. "Oh, I see. Well, go take a seat, and I'll be there shortly." I nod, before heading over to the table Gabi's sitting at.

"Who's that?" she asks, in a calm voice, as I sit down across from her.

"Lavender; she owns the diner. I met her when I first stopped here in Celestic Town," I explain, as I place my hands on the edge of the table, and push back against the chair, making my back pop.

"I see," she says, and Lavender suddenly comes over, with a big smile plastered on her face.

"Welcome to The Setting Dialga." she says, "What can I do for you today?"

"I'd like a Mountain Dewott*," I say, "And a cheeseburger."

Lavender nods, and scribbles the order down, before nodding to Gabi that she can order. She clears her throat. "Um...I'd like a...Dr. Elm*, and a cheeseburger also." The owner of the diner smiles, and nods, before telling us how long the wait will be, before leaving.

"So," I begin, pulling out a map from my bag, and unfolding it, "I figured we could fly to the resort between Pastoria and Veilstone, and then walk from there to Sunnyshore. How does that sound?" I look up at her, only to find her staring out the window towards the town. "Gabi? You okay?" I ask. She doesn't respond. I frown harder. "Gabs?" I ask again, snapping my fingers in front of her face.

She gets jerked out of her thoughts, and she turns her gaze to me. "Yes?"

"Did you hear what I said?"

"Er...no." she admits, looking down. "Sorry," she adds, after a pause. "Got distracted."

"That's alright," I say, not even bothering asking her what got her so distracted. "Anyways, I said we could fly to the resort between Pastoria and Veilstone, then walk from there to Sunnyshore."

"Sounds like a plan." Gabi says, before looking out the window once again. I sigh and shake my head at that faraway look she gets once again.

Author's Note: *I will give a dedication to anyone who can figure out what the two pop brands "Mountain Dewott" and "Dr. Elm" are based off of. The dedication will be either a dedication to this chapter, or previous ones. But if you can't guess it, that's okay, although, I think it's quite simple.


	17. Chapter 17

"Thanks again, Lavender," I call to her as we exit "The Setting Dialga", Gabi still holding her glass of Dr. Elm. She gulps down the rest, before setting it on the counter inside the diner, before walking out.

"You're welcome! Come back soon!" she calls back.

Gabi and I walk from the diner in a comfortable silence, before she decides to break it. "There's some ruins here in town; do you want to go check them out?" she asks, as she stretches.

I shrug. "Sure, why not? I think it'd be cool...but we need to get to Sunnyshore before sundown, remember that," I tell her.

She nods. "Yeah yeah, calm down," she says, waving at hand at me dismissively. "Do you know where it is?" Gabi questions, as she begins to walk away from me. I follow her, quickening my pace, so I can keep up.

"Yes, I do. Now, if you'd slow down, then I could show you." I tell her. She sighs, but slows down. I go into a walk, and lead her down the steps towards the center of town. There's a small shrine there, and I don't remember which Pokemon it is for, but I ignore it. For now.

I head around the shrine, to see the ruins' opening. "Is that it?" Gabi asks, quickening her pace slightly until she's standing in the entrance to the ruins.

"Yes, it is." I say, as I join her by the entrance. She studies the two mural like objects on either side of the entrance, with intense interest.

"Are these paintings of Dialga and Palkia?" she asks me curiously. I turn my head to look at the painting she's looking at, and study it for a second. It sure does look like Dialga and Palkia; but one can never be so sure.

"Yes, I believe it is," I say, stepping closer to the painting, and stepping closer to Gabi in the process. I lean forward, tracing the wing like object on the back of one of the creatures, that I think is Palkia. "See, you can tell this is Palkia because of the wing like objects sprouting from its back, and right here with the spikes around its mouth..." I draw off, before pointing towards the one that looks like Dialga. "See, you can tell this one is Dialga, because he's on four legs. Do you also see the spikes that come up, before the tail starts? That's another characteristic of Dialga, and..." I draw off, when I realize how close Gabi and I are. I look down at her, and she's starting up at me with wide eyes. I jump back quickly. "Erm...I'm sorry." I apologize quickly.

"T-that's o-okay," she stutters. "Lets just go in already..." she adds, before darting inside. I sigh, and scrub a hand over my face, before heading inside. I look around, before spotting Gabi at the back, looking at the hieroglyphs-which at the spot is the only thing in here. I head towards her, and once I get close, she glances behind herself, before looking back at the item before her. "Are these the lake guardians?" she asks, curiously.

I study the painting for a second, before nodding, "Yeah it is..."

"Do you know the names of the guardians?" she asks again.

I nod. "That's Azelf, the Willpower Pokemon, and it's the Guardian of Lake Valor," I say, pointing to the bottom left Pokemon, "That's Uxie, the Knowledge Pokemon, and it's the Guardian of Lake Acuity," I add, pointing to the bottom right Pokemon, "And that's Mesprit, the Emotion Pokemon, and it's the Guardian of Lake Verity." I explain.

She nods, and opens her mouth to say something, but she gets cut off by someone else... "That is very correct, Mr. Red. Why, you know a lot about Sinnoh Mythology. May I ask, why?" We both whip around, to see a man with spiky blue hair standing directly behind us. I narrow my eyes at him.

"Cyrus," I say, my voice tense. I walk in front of Gabi, and stand protectively in front of her, which is a bad impulse of mine.

"Hello, Silver," the leader of Team Galactic says calmly. "What brings you here?" he asks, blue eyes flickering. I grit my teeth slightly.

"Nothing that concerns you." I snap back, my right arm posed to snatch a Pokeball from my belt if needed.

"Now, now, Silver, is that any way to act?" he asks calmly, and that's when I realize that they're Team Galactic grunts in the ruins, and they're coming out of the shadows, moving towards us. I gulp, and back up, making Gabi back up as well. "Especially to the man that's known you since you were a child?"

I clench my fists. "It doesn't matter how long I've known you. I'll treat you the way I want to fucking treat you!" I shout at him.

The grunts move closer. Cyrus just gives a small smile. "Of course you can...but you won't able too before long." At that moment, the grunts dive for us. Gabi lets out a scream of surprise. I send five punches, nailing five grunts in the face, and knocking them down. "Really, Silver? It's useless to fight." Cyrus says. A bunch of grunts pin me down to the ground, as about ten others grab Gabi, and drag her away. I begin to thrash, and I get one arm free, and manage to punch one grunt in the face.

"Tsk tsk, Silver," Cyrus laughs, "That's a very poor attempt at escaping. Do you really think you can fight us all off?" he asks, as a grunt punches me in the face, another one punches me in the ribs, and another one punches me in the gut.

I cough hard at each punch, and I hear Gabi call in the background, "Silver!" Which, is followed by some painful coughing.

Rage suddenly fills me, and I sit up quickly, overpowering the grunts' strength. "Don't touch her, you bastards!" I shout, and try to stand up, when the grunts suddenly slam me back down onto the floor, my head bouncing off of the cement floor. I let out a yowl of pain, as black begins to fill the edge of my vision.

"Inject him with the the paralysis poison." I hear Cyrus tell one of the grunts, as I begin to swim in and out of consciousness.

"Yes, sir," one of the grunts mumble, before walking over to me. He kneels down by my head, and brushes some of the hair from my neck, before injecting the needle into the crook of my neck. I let out a small screech of pain, as I feel the paralysis poison fill my veins. My bodily functions leave my body admittedly, and I keep telling my limbs to move, but they won't.

"Ngh..." I moan in pain, as the needle was removed. 'Come on, you stupid body,' I think as the grunts let go of me, 'Move!'

"Pick him up, and the girl. We need to get moving." the leader of Team Galactic states before I hear him begin to walk away. Everyone mumbles something about "yes sir", before one grunt grabs my right arm, and wraps it around his shoulders, before another grunt does the same with my left. My feet drag against the floor, as they drag me out of the ruins. I glance towards Gabi, to see her struggling against their hold.

'I'm so sorry, Gabi,' I apologize inside my head. 'I am so...so sorry.' If I could, I would flinch as I get blinded by light once we get outside. The grunts drag me over to their vehicle, before tossing me in. I let out a grunt of pain, as I hit the metal floor, and roll a little bit. They then toss Gabi in after me, before slamming the door shut.

Gabi tries to receive her bearings first, before noticing me. "Silver! Oh god..." she exclaims, before dragging herself over to me. She rolls me onto my back, and looks me over. "You look like shit..." she mumbles, shaking her head, and murmurs to herself, "Those bastards...they'll pay for this..." I can't help agree with her comment. My body shudders, as the poisonous effect of the liquid starts to fill my veins. "Oh crap, Silver, what did they do to you?" she asks weakly.

"Ngh..." I moan again, starting to sweat and twitch because of my body trying to get rid of the poison. Gabi gulps, and wipes her forehead, not really sure what to do.

"H...hang in there, Silver," she pleads, as I begin to get light headed once again. I begin to swim in and out of consciousness once more, and each time before I dip into consciousness, I hear Gabi say:

"Please, hang in there...No, there is no "please". You must hang on, Silver! You must!"

I don't know how much later, when I've gained consciousness again, I hear the doors to the vehicle open, and the grunts drag Gabi out, before doing the same thing to me. They do what they did earlier, with one person on each side of me, with one of my arms wrapped around their shoulders. They drag me into a building, and down a couple of staircases, before walking into a jail cell like room. And I should know what a jail looks like. I've been in plenty.

They drag me over to a wall, before taking my wrists, and putting metal cuffs around them, suspending me from the ceiling. I let out a grunt of pain, since the cuffs are starting to cut off blood circulation. I don't have any idea what they're doing to Gabi, but all I can hear is the metal clinking of cuffs, and then a loud thud as something falls to the floor. If I could see what was happening, I would flinch at that.

I hear the metal door slam shut, and that's all I get, before I'm diving back into darkness.

When I wake up again, the paralysis poison is fully out of my system, and I can move again. I lift my head up, and look around, not seeing Gabi anywhere. "Hello?" I call out, even though no one's there.

"Ah, you're awake," I hear a familiar voice say, before a familiar redhead steps in. "That's good, we thought you'd never wake up." Mars says, a sickening grin spreading over her face. My blood boils.

"Go to hell." I snap at her.

"Hm..feisty as ever, I see," she grins. I glare at her as hard as I can. She walks over to me, with a tray of food in her hands. "You must be starving," she says sweetly, as she picks up a biscuit, and holds it out to me.

I spit at her. It lands on her face, and in some of the food. "Like I said earlier, you can go to hell."

She wipes at her face, and scowls darkly. "That is the last time I will ever be nice to you, Silver Jonathan Red. Have fun dying," she snaps, before exiting the room, and leaving me suspended in the air.

I growl angrily, and start to swing my body, trying to loosen the chains on the ceiling. It doesn't work. "Oh, screw my life!" I scream into the air, as I feel the cuffs cut into my wrists further, causing blood to flow down my arms.

I hear the door open, before slowly closing. I look up, to see a man in a Team Galatic outfit walking in. It doesn't look like the grunts...it looks like a commander. Although, I thought Team Galactic only had three commanders before Saturn left, not four? "Hello," the man says, bright flaming blue hair glowing in the dimly lit room. "You probably don't know me, but I know you. My name is Neptune, and I am the son of Cyrus." he states, like it's an everyday thing.

That's when it hits me. "N...no, I know who you are. You used to come over to the Team Rocket HQ all the time in Celadon City, and would come with your father, and play with Ashy and I during meetings."

"Oh, so you do remember me," Neptune says with a grin, as he practically strutts, -yes, strutts-over to me. "You know, Silver," he says casually, as he places a finger under my chin, and forces me to look at him. He studies my bloodied face, before saying, "I always knew you'd become a disgrace to the Red name; and, well, would become a delinquent." he states, matter-of-factly, "You were always the rebellious sort. Although, I didn't quite see your sister following your footsteps." He purses his lips at that.

I snort at that. "And you know what, Neptune? I always knew you'd become a dick. You were always the dick-ish type." That earns me a well aimed punch to the jaw. I grunt as pain shoots up through my jaw, and blood begins to fill my mouth. I spit it out onto the floor, barely missing Neptune's shoes.

He glares at me. "Shut it, you spoiled brat." he snaps angrily.

"I'm spoiled? Says the child that got everything he wanted, and more. Says the child that became a commander of a huge crime organization when he asked his father with a "pretty please" at the end. Pathetic." I snapback. That earns me a punch to the gut. I cough up blood once again.

"You should really know when to shut your mouth, Silver," he growls.

"And you should really learn to tell when you're being schooled in a mouth off by a kid thats got nothing to lose." I respond, a slight smirk spreading over my face at that. Neptune smirks back, and my smirk falls from my face.

"Oh, really? You've got nothing to lose? What about that cute little brown haired chick? Hm...what was her name? Gabi?" he taunts, with a sly grin on his face. That earns him a swift kick in the nuts, making him crouch over in pain.

"You leave her alone!" I shout. "This has nothing to do with her! Absolutely nothing!" I scream so loud that it echoes off of the walls.

"Does it matter if it does?" Neptune asks simply, before saying, "You know, I wonder what it'd be like, to be with her?" he says, giving me an implying look. "I mean, she's a feisty one, it's gotta be good, right?"

"You fucking perv!" I scream once again, before kicking him in the crotch, then the gut, and while he's crippled over in pain, I send my knee flying into his jaw, making him fall backwards. "You...you're a perv! And you disgust me!" I exclaim.

"Do I really, Silver? You know you'd do the same thing, if you had the chance," Neptune responds.

"Not by forcing her!" I say, stiffly.

Neptune rolls his eyes, before saying, "Do you have any idea what we're going to do to you, now, that we got you in custody?"

I pause for a second, before shaking my head. "No; I figured you'd sell me back to my father, and probably keep Gabi as a slave," I say, with a snort.

"If it was my choice, yes, that's how it would go." he states simply, "But, no, father has different plans. He plans on brainwashing your little friend, and turning her into a mindless Galactic grunt."

I scowl at him. "...And why are you telling me this?"

Neptune grins in response. "Because that's what's going to happen to you. Although, father says Giovanni will brainwash you, and turn you into the heir of Team Rocket." He sounds disappointed at that. "And then you won't remember any of this. You won't remember her, or me, or anyone." Neptune stands up, before stretching. "Which, is good with me." A grin spreads over Neptune's face, before he heads to the door. "Happy dying!" he exclaims, motioning to all the dried blood on my arms.

"Wait!" I scream, remembering something. He stops, turns, and looks at me.

"What?" he asks, with a raised eyebrow.

"W..what happened to your sister? Pluto?" I question, remembering the small, timid, blue haired girl. "I...is she still alive?"

"Yes, she is. But she left along with our mother a long time ago. She goes under the name "Cyra" now." he explains, then scoffs. "She keeps meddling in our business, and I'm surprised father is letting it slide..." he murmurs, before exiting the room, leaving me to my own thoughts.

So, Pluto is alive. That's good...I thought for sure that she was dead, since she hasn't tried to contact Ashy and I in years. It's good she's alive, and journeying on her own, now.

I shake that thought from my head, and try to think of a way to escape, but can't. Oh god, I think to myself, I'm wasting precious time. I need to get out of here and save Gabi. B...but what if they already brainwashed her, and already have her hair dyed a puke green, and changed her into Galactic clothes? What if they brainwash me before I can even get out, and try to save her, if they haven't brainwashed her yet? God, I'm so useless.

I slam my head back against the wall, but instantly regret it. What if she escapes, but doesn't come and try to get me out? What if...she just leaves? What if what Saturn said was a lie, and she really didn't care for me in that way?

My head spins with so many possibilities. What if I never got to tell her how I feel? Wait...DO I have feeling for Gabi? Now that I think about it, she IS pretty. And smart...and funny...and a good friend...

I shake my head again at that. So, I DO have feelings for her...and it's not just as friends. But, is it more? Is...is it that thing people call...love? Do I feel that towards Gabi? Ever since I found out she was gone when I awoke, I have been feeling...an emptiness inside me, and it's not an emptiness I've felt before. Does this mean?...Yes...Yes I think it does...I think that "pain" means... No, I don't think I know it means one thing.

It means I love Gabi Emerson.

Oh crap, I love Gabi Emerson, and she's about to get brainwashed in some other part of the building. I need to get out of here!


	18. Chapter 18

Once I regain my bearings, I begin to thrash against the chains. I do this acrobatic like move, getting my legs tangled in the chains above. I let out a growl of anger, and raise my head, before trying to bite the chains off with my teeth. Which, of course, is a bad idea. I spit out the blood in my mouth, scowling darkly. I hate this stupid thing.

I try kicking at the area around the chains, where it's connected to the wall, trying to break the cement so the chain will fall. Team Galactic must be psychic, because a few seconds later, a grunt walks in, and untangles me from my upside down position. I spit blood at him, which earns me a smack in the face. I wheeze slightly, and spit more blood onto the ground.

'Great,' I think to myself, 'Just great.' The cuts on my wrist had reopened from

blood had dried over it, and made it stop. My own blood now flows freely down my arms. 'If they don't kill me, or brainwash me, I'm going to die of blood loss. Or worse, I'll have brain damage from when I go unconscious. I let my head rest against my chest, as I try to breath slowly. Hyperventilating and then passing out would not be a good thing, either.

'Calm down, Silver,' I think to myself, 'Panicking won't do you-or Gabi-any good. Just try to calm down, and everything will-' but my train of thought gets cut off when suddenly the door opens. I'm too weak from blood loss to even try to raise my head, so I call out, "Oh what the hell do you want this time Neptune?"

"Having fun, dying yet, Silver?" I freeze at that voice, and growl as I raise my head to see an all too familiar figure walk into the room.

"Father." I say sharply, each word clipped. Giovanni walks in, with his hands folded behind his back, with his trusty Persian right behind him. If my eyes suddenly hadn't gone blurry, I probably would have noticed his cheshire cat grin-the same exact one Ashy has.

"Son," he says with a nod. I blink rapidly, trying to clear my eyes of all the grime that has filled it. He walks over to me, and steps into a puddle of blood. His eyes advert down to the puddle, before his eyes turn back to me. He smirks when he sees the blood running down my arms. "I see you haven't learned your lesson yet about trying to escape. You, of all people, should know it's foolish to try such a thing."

"Fuck you," I growl, before beginning to thrash, "And you can go to hell as well; I'm sure all your criminal buddies would love having a big reunion there. Especially after you sold out ninety nine percent of them to the police. As for trying to escape; I've done it before, and I can do it again." Before he can even think about punching me, or kicking me, I add in a harsh tone, "Oh, by the way, how is our mother? Is she just splendid like usual?"

Now that earns me a hard bunch in the jaw. I wince, and spit out more blood from my mouth, hating the fact that I'm growing used to the metallic taste. His eyes flash with anger. "Don't you dare talk about that...that, lying piece of crap." Giovanni spits at me. "If your mother hadn't been so selfish, maybe this wouldn't have happened in the first place!"

"None of this is her fault! Don't you dare blame it on her, when you were the problem!" I shout back, my anger getting the best of me.

Giovanni goes quiet, before starting to chuckle. That sends me for a whirl. "Why are you laughing at?" I growl out.

"Your stupidity," he says, amused, "You really know nothing about what happened between your mother and I, do you?" he asks. I think for a second, before realizing I really did not know why our mother left us. I always thought it was because our father was evil...but perhaps that's not the case? I shake my head, before he sighs, and takes out a key from his pocket. He loosens the chain length on the cuffs, lowering me down to the ground. I let out a breath of joy, as I sit down on the ground, and lean against the wall. Giovanni just scowls, before saying, "I loved your mother, more than anything in the world. I wasn't the one that caused these problems. Your mother did. You see...around the time you were nine, she started to become distant. She wasn't around as much, and whenever I awoke in the morning, she was gone. I questioned her about it, but she could never give me a straight answer. Finally, I had a grunt follow her one night, and guess what your mother was doing, Silver?"

"Eating at a diner?" I ask sarcastically. He scowls again.

"No, your mother was having sexual intercourse with another man. Your mother committed adultery, Silver." That sends me in for a loop.

"You're crazy." I murmur.

"It's true." he says, "I asked her why she did it, and she told me that she didn't love me anymore. There wasn't any... "fire", as she put it," he shakes his head at that, before continuing, "I asked her to just give me a year to change, and if I didn't, then she could leave. I tried to change my ways, Silver, I really did. But, your mother continued to do what she was doing before, and didn't try to change. In the end, she left, and started going out with that grandson's of Oaks." he snorts, before saying, "And, of course, that's when the abuse started. I did it to try to keep you from becoming rebellious like her, but in the end, my attempt failed. You both became just like her."

I started to believe him a little bit through the story, but once he told me why he abused my sister and I, that's when I started to not believe him. "You're a liar," I growl, "That's not why you abused us!"

"It's the truth." my father says, "And if you just opened your damn eyes to see the truth, you would realize too, that everything I spoke was true." Giovanni's eyes harden a bit, before he says, "Have fun rotting here, Silver." He then exits the room.

As soon as the door slides shut, I jump up. Of course, now that he's let me rest for a bit, I figured I should try to escape once again. I turn and walk to the wall, before lifting my right foot, and slamming it down onto the thing the chain is connected too. I let out a small hiss of pain, before doing it again. Each time I slam my foot on the object, it gets looser. And looser, and looser. Finally, with a loud crack, it breaks off from the wall. That's when I hear sirens go off. Hm...did they plan that I'd break free like this?

Using the now free chain, I swing my free arm, and make the long chain wrap around the one still connected to the wall. I begin to tug hard on the chain, and a few seconds later, it too is springing from the wall. Hm...looks like all those fighting classes father paid for really paid off.

I sprint to the door, and put my shoulder down, before hitting the door. It springs off of its hinges, and clatters to the floor. I give a grin of accomplishment, forgetting about my wounds as adrenaline washes over me. I scoop the chains into my arms, before taking off down the hallway. "Hey, there he is!" I hear a grunt yell behind me, before footsteps follow.

'Shit,' I think to myself, before forcing myself to run harder. A grunt appears in front of me a few feet ahead. So, I throw my left arm forward, sending the chain connected to it spiraling forward. It wraps around one of the grunts' legs, and I pull my arm backwards, making him fall to the floor with a loud "thud". I pull the chain back, so he can't grab onto it, and barrel past him. I round a corner, before heading down the hallway, and barreling around another corner. Surprisingly, I don't find any grunts. I slow into a walk, and once the adrenaline leaves my veins, that's when I realize how exhausted I am. I lean against the wall with a slight grimace, before slowly wandering down the hallway. I spot a door to my left, so I weakly push off of the wall, before heading to the door. Maybe it's Gabi?

I push the door open, and slowly peer inside. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. At least, that's what I thought at first, before I hear movement. "Who's there?" I call out, when though it wasn't my smartest move.  
"Oh my god, Silver, is that you?!" I hear a somewhat familiar voice exclaim, before a figure runs forward out of the shadows. I'm surprised to see a disheveled looking Chuck.

"Chuck? W-..what are you doing here?" I question.

"I-I don't know why I'm here," he stammers, "They just...just burst into my home at

Eterna, and commanded that I went with them. I did, because they threatened my family with guns." He takes a shaky breath, before adding, "When we arrived here, they said something to me about how they needed to find you, so, to do that, they had to kidnap everyone who's ever spoken to you in Sinnoh. They then chained me up, and tortured me, until I told them you went to Pastoria the last time I checked." Chuck shudders at the memory. He opens his eyes, then realizes what he said, and blinks his eyes rapidly as they fill with tears. "Oh my god...please don't tell me I'm the reason that you're here! That they found you at Pastoria!"

"No, you aren't the reason," I say, even though one of his previous sentences is hanging in my head. 'They needed to find you, so, to do that, they had to kidnap everyone who's ever spoken to you in Sinnoh.' Oh crap, does that mean Barry, Cast, and Lavender are here, too?! "Chuck," I say suddenly, as I pull out a bobby pin from my pocket-don't ask-and begin to pick the lock on the chains, "Did they bring anyone else in here with you?"

Chuck goes quiet for a second, before saying, "Two other people. A boy with whitish hair, and a boy with blonde hair that would not shut up. You didn't really become friends with him, did you?"

My face becomes red. Shit, Cast, and Barry got caught, too! "Yeah, I did. Now, come on, we need to get going, and find them and Gabi." I say, before grabbing Chuck's wrist, and running out of the hallway.


	19. Chapter 19

"What? We have to save him?" Chuck asks, as we head down the hallway. "I thought you'd be happy to get rid of that annoying kid!" he mumbles.

I almost turn around, and glare at him, but don't. "I don't wish harm upon Barry. Sure, he can be annoying at times, but I don't wish harm upon him." I respond, as we run down the hallway. I hear people running towards us from behind, as Chuck and I duck around a corner.

I begin to head down the hallway, when Chuck grabs my arm. "We need to find our Pokemon," he says quickly, "In case we run into some grunts."

I shrug him off, and say, "We can worry about that later! Peoples' lives are at stake! I'm sure that's a lot more important than finding our Pokemon!" He purses his lips, but simply nods. I then rush down the hallway, ignoring my wounds once more. We check the rooms as we pass them, and so far, we've seen nothing.

"Who has this many rooms?" Chuck grunts, "They don't even use half of them!" he exclaims. I growl, and slap my hand over his mouth.

"Quiet," I growl at him, "Stop complaining. They can smell complaints." I remove my hand, and he goes quiet admittedly.

I head down the hallway again, and open a door to suddenly get blasted with: "DON'T YOU COME NEAR ME, YOU STUPID TEAM ROCKET GRUNTS OR WHATEVER THE HELL YOU ARE!" Barry screams. Cast's eyes shows annoyance, as he struggles against his chains.

"Be quiet!" I snap, limping forward. "Or I'll just leave you here." He instantly goes quiet. I limp over to him, before bringing out the bobby pin, and picking the lock. In a few seconds, he's falling to the floor with a loud thud.

"Ow!" he exclaims, wincing.

"Be quiet," I hiss once more, before heading over to Cast, and picking the lock on his cuffs too.

"Thank you," Cast tells me, as he falls to the floor too. I just nod, and help him up, as Chuck suddenly darts into the room.

"I found our Pokemon," he breaths, before distributing the Pokemon among us. I glance over at my team, to make sure I got back the correct Pokemon, before looking at Chuck.

"Did you so happen to grab Gabi's Pokemon?" I ask. He nods, before handing me them. I pocket them, before saying, "Did you also manage to find an exit, while you were gone?"

Chuck nods. "Down the hall. I can't believe they actually put Cast and Barry so close to the exit."

"They're stupid," I respond, "That's why." I pause, before adding, "Chuck, you get Barry and Cast out of here. Don't call the police, and get as far away from here as you can. I'm going to go find Gabi." I then limp to the entrance.

"No!" Cast exclaims, grabbing my wrist. I flinch, but turn and look at him. "What if you get caught?" he asks, eyes filled with worry. Huh, funny, I've met him only once, and he's already worried about me like we've known eachother forever.

I rip my wrist away from him, but admittedly regret it when pain laces up my arm. I try to ignore it, as I say, "I rather get captured trying to save here, then no even have tried at all." I then limp out of the room, as the others follow.

"Well I'll be damned," Cast says, as he walks out of the room. "You like her!" he exclaims quietly, as Barry and Chuck walk out of the room. Chuck taps his foot impatiently.

I look at him. "Well...yes...shut up!" I say awkwardly, before limping down the hallway. I hear one of them come after me, before the other two call him back, and then I hear them leave. I walk down the hallway way, and round a corner, sighing when I can't find anyone, or anything. I head back where I came, before following down a different hallway, and finding six doors. None of them are locked, or hold anything. 'I feel like I'm walking in circles,' I think to myself, as I walk down the hallway again. Obviously, the loss of blood has damaged my hearing, or something, because the next thing I know, I hear:

"There's the escapee! Get him, before he can escape! Oh, and watch out for the chains!" Shit! It's the grunt I knocked down earlier! I begin to try to take off in a run, but my body is too weak to even attempt to run. I stumble forward, the pain, and exhaustion taking over my body, making my legs grow weak. I swallow hard, before falling to my knees, and then face first onto the ground. "Hm..." I hear the grunt murmur as he runs up to me. "That was too easy..." He doesn't seem like he's complaining, though, because he's suddenly picking up my body, and dragging me down the hallway.

When I awake, I come face to face with Ashy. "Ah!" I screech, jumping backwards, nearly out of my skin. "God damn it, Ashy! You scared the shit out of me!" I exclaim, as I go to stand up, but realize I'm strapped to a chair. "Now, let me go!" I add ruefully.

Ashy only smiles. "Oh, Silver, do you really think I'll let you go? After everything I said to you before?" she asks me, in a sickening sweet voice. My blood runs cold. "And, now with what I've become, do you really think there is any chance of you escaping?"

That's when I decide to take in Ashy's appearance, and to stop panicking. Her black bangs are still in their messed up fashion, but the back of her hair is frizzy, and curly. She's wearing a black Japanese styled shirt, with red around the bottom, and where the zipper/buttons are. There's a red Pokeball on the left breast. She's wearing black jeans, and red and black military styled boots. She's wearing she gloves, that go halfway up her upper arms, before they flare out wildly. She's still wearing her signature Pokeball necklace, but that's all that is the same with her.

Her outfit practically "screams" Team Rocket. That's when it all comes together. 'What I've become'... 'do you really think you can escape?'...the outfit change! "You!" I scream angrily, "Y-you're one of them!"

"Well, of course I am," she says, smiling darkly, "I'll get to take down you if I join them. And hell; it's well worth it, seeing you lying there in pain. Although, don't worry, Silver, you'll be joining us soon enough."

"W-..what do you mean?" I question, slightly afraid of the answer.

She giggles madly. "Well, brainwash, of course! Because I am almost positive that you won't join us without force." she grins, "And don't worry, Silver! Once it's done, you won't feel anymore pain...there won't be anymore "confusion", or fighting. It'll be just...well, smooth sailing!" She puts her hands on her hips, before leaning forward. "Isn't that what you want?"

I rip my face away from hers, and glare at the wall. "No, I rather be free, and with all those confusing thoughts, then be a mindless slave, like you are!"

"A 'mindless slave'? Oh no, Silver," she smiles, "I am nothing like you will become. I am free minded, and remember everything in my life. From when we got abused, to when I called you "Giovanni". I remember it all."

"Then you're not my sister; you're a clone with her memories," I growl out, "Because my sister would never, ever, join Team Rocket! No matter how much she wanted to get revenge on me!"

"Obviously you didn't know me that well, then," Ashy giggles again, before walking over to the only machine in the room. I didn't even notice it was there; or the wires attached to my temples. I was too busy paying attention to Ashy to notice.

Her smile widens as she gets to tap on the buttons of the machine. My eyes widen in realization. Crap! That's the machine Team Rocket used for brainwashing! Panic rises within my gut.

Crap crap crap!

Noticing my panic, Ashy smiles, "Don't worry, Silver, you'll only feel it for a minute," she says, before turning a knob on the machine, and it glows like a Christmas Tree.

"No!" I scream, before my gaze goes black.

I jerk upright in the chair; in the same chair I was in before. But, I remember everything. Did it not work? "Ah," a voice says, "I see you decided to wake up from your nap. Good." My head jerks up, and my eyes narrow when I see Neptune, and Giovanni, but no Cyrus, Mars, or Jupiter. Hm, I figured the two bitches would love to see my mind get destroyed, and I thought Cyrus wouldn't miss this for the world?

The wires are attached to my temple, just like in the "dream". Was it all really, just a dream?

"Go to hell!" I spit at both of them. They both roll their eyes, before Neptune walks up to the machine, and begins typing on it. My throat goes dry. Oh shit...

"Is there anything you'd like to say-or ask-before your memory gets wiped clean, Silver?" Neptune asks, his hand hovering over the knob; that with one turn, can wipe my memory clean; possibly forever.

"Yes," I say quickly. "Why?"

"Why, what?" Neptune asks with a snort, and doesn't seem very amused, or interested. Giovanni seems like he's...both. "Why is a relevant term, and can mean anything."

"Why? As in, why are you doing this? Why, as in, why are you all so intent on hunting Ashy and I down, but do not care one bit that Pluto is causing trouble, and almost destroying Team Galactic. Why, as in, did you kidnap everyone I have ever talked to more than twenty minutes, to question them about my whereabouts?" I take a deep breath, before adding in a loud, booming voice, "WHY CAN'T YOU ALL LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE?!"

Neptune scowls, and is about ready to turn the dial, when Giovanni holds his hand up, motioning for Neptune to stop. Said person scowls, and removes his hand from the dial, and crosses his arms over his chest, displeased by this. "Neptune, he has a right to know...well, for a brief second," Giovanni says with a somewhat sinister smile. Neptune only nods.

"You see, Silver," Giovanni says, as he pulls out the chair from behind the machine, and sits down in it, before crossing his legs. "To answer your first question, I must ask you a simple question. Why not? Why wouldn't we do it, once we have a powerful delinquent under our control? You see, if we could brainwash him into believing what he is doing is good, and he was never some "good guy" in the first place, well, then we'd be unstoppable! Do you see what I'm getting at?" he asks me. I nod slowly.

"Good. Now, I must correct you on your second question. I am the one content on hunting both you and your sister down, and retrieving you both. Team Galactic is just along for the ride; since they're getting paid a lot of money for the help," he states, glaring slightly at Neptune; who, of which, is staring intently at the dial that'd erase my memory.

"Now, to answer the second part to your second question; it is quite simple. If Team Galactic wants to hunt Pluto down, then that's their business. Not mine." he says, and I can see some logic behind that. Hmph, that's the most logical thing I've heard all day. "Now, about your third question," he says, as he cocks his head back ever so slightly. It's one of the many annoying thing he does. "As to why I kidnapped your friends; well, isn't it simple? It's the quickest, and most efficient way to find you. Naturally, it took much longer because of some Team Galactic and Rocket imbeciles, but no matter." Giovanni shrugs, as if to say "it doesn't matter anymore, we found you, didn't we?".

"As for the last question," Giovanni's eyes darken, "We can't 'leave you the hell alone', because you need to be taught a lesson. It's that simple."

"I think you've taught me a lesson!" I cough, and some blood comes out. Disgusting. I struggle against the cuffs chaining me to the chair, and some of the dried blood on my wrist gets scraped off, and falls onto the floor, making new blood spill out. Great, just fucking great.

Giovanni opens his mouth, but Neptune cuts him off, "Oh my god, this is not a soap opera! Lets just get this over with!" He then spins the dial, and the machine lights up like a Christmas tree.

Just like it did in my dream...

My body goes tense, and then rigid, as I try to fight the treatment. No! Don't let it control you! I think to myself, as I begin to forget some memories, then regain them. You need to escape, Silver! You need to find Gabi! You need to find Gab-...

You need to find...

You need to...

You need...

Y-...

And then, my mind goes blank.


	20. Chapter 20

Once I regain consciousness-when did I ever pass out?-I realize I'm strapped to a chair, with two wires attached to my temples, and Neptune and my father sitting across from me. "Father?" I ask, slightly getting pissed off, "What is the meaning of this?"

"Oh, nothing Silver, I'm sorry. You must not remember." my father apologizes. "Neptune, unhook him," he commands the commander of Team Galactic, before turning to me. Neptune grumbles, before doing what's asked of him, and unhooking me from the chain, and pulling the wires from my temples.

"Father, explain," I demand, narrowing my eyes at him. He's never hooked me up to a machine like this before; maybe, perhaps, was it to increase my knowledge of something? Yes...that must be it. At least, I hope so.

"I am sorry, Silver," he sighs, "But we were running experiments on you, to try to see how you communicate with Pokemon. We're thinking if we can harness that power, then we can get wild Pokemon on our side."

"Hm..." I grumble, as I stand up, wincing as pain laces up through my body. What have I done recently, that has caused me so much pain? I rub at my sore wrists, grimacing when I see new, and old blood there. "Well, even so, that was no reason to chain me up to a chair in the state I am. One fatal miscalculation could have costed me my life; you know that, don't you?"

"You weren't injured before the experiment," Neptune explains. I focus my attention on him. "It happened during it. Your body didn't respond to the treatment as well as we were hoping, and that caused some old wounds to reopen."

I frown. "But I never remember having wounds-" my father cuts me off this time.

"Enough questions," he says, each word clipped. He stands up, and walks briskly to the door. "Now, Silver, come with me. We must get you changed, a bath, and have someone looks at those wrists of yours." he says, eying my bloodied wrist. "And you insides for that matter; you took quite a beating yesterday."

"Doing what, exactly?"

"Defending your sister against some gym leaders who were trying to sway her to join them." I bristle at the idea of my sister changing sides, but it does seem plausible. She always was the black sheep of the family.

"I see." I respond, as I follow him out of the room, and down the hallway, towards the infirmary.

"Well," the nurse says, as she turns my now clean wrist over in her hand, frowning when she sees some puss coming out. "Your wrist has gotten a little infected, but other than that, you're good. No internal injuries, just some bruising on the bones." She takes a cloth that was dipped in alcohol, and wipes it over both wounds. I let out a small hiss of pain, and wince at it. She gives me a small smile, before scrubbing at my wrists, trying to get all the puss out that she can. I let out small hisses of pain, each time, but try to control it. In another minute, she's pulling the cloth away, and motioning to a door on her left. "Right through those doors, is a full bathroom. It has everything you need in there, but if you can't find something that you need, just come and tell me." I give a brief nod, before standing up, and walking over to the door. I open it, and step in, before closing it, and locking it. Don't want that stupid nurse checking in on me unexpectedly, now, do I?

I take off my gloves, and throw them on the floor, before turning on the shower. I run my hand under the lukewarm water, before turning up the heat just a little bit.

Perfect.

I strip out of my clothes, before stepping into the shower, and letting out a quiet sigh of relief as the warm water runs over my tense and sore muscles, relaxing slowly. I let it wash over my hair, and skin for a while, before I grab the shampoo bottle, and squirt some of it into my left hand. I notice that the bottle is almost empty. 'Hm...' I think to myself, 'They must have had a lot of people in the infirmary lately.'

I put the bottle back, before rubbing my hands together, and then putting my hands in my hair, and rubbing the shampoo in, making sure to get every single piece of hair. Once I think I've lathered up my hair enough, I tilt my head back into the spray, scrunching my eyes closed. The shampoo washes out of my hair, before sliding down my body, and into the drain below.

I contemplate whether or not I should use conditioner, but finally I decide that a small amount couldn't hurt. I squirt some of it into my hand, and hastily run it through my hair, before rinsing it out.

I then snatch the new bar of soap, and run it under the water for a second, before lathering up my body with it. As I'm doing so, my mind wanders. Why was I tied up to that chair earlier? My father is lying to me, I know that. They'd never want wild Pokemon on their side-not like N. They just want to take over the world. So that is definitely not why I was chained up. And that is definitely not why I don't remember anything. Perhaps he's lying to me-to protect me from something?

Who knows with him.

I step back into the shower of water, and let it rinse off all the soap. I turn the shower off quickly, before stepping out onto the cold tile floor. It makes my toes curl at the feeling. I pad over to the sink, before opening the cabinet below, and snatching out a towel, drying my body off quickly, before trying to try my hair a little bit. The cuts on my wrists have begun to throb, but that's it.

I change into some clothes that were already in the room (a white dress shirt, with a black jacket with a red "R" on the right breast, and a gray pair of jeans, with red dress shoes), before heading out, fiddling with the cufflinks on my right arm. The nurse looks up, and smiles, before saying, "That outfit fits you nicely."

I glance at her, before saying, "It's a little big..."

She nods, before standing up, with a roll of gauze in her hand. She walks over to me, and begins wrapping her wrists, before speaking to me, "Your father brought them down earlier, saying you'd be needing them. From the style of the clothing, I can only assume that these were your father's old clothing."

I nod briefly, before she pats my wrists, with a smile, "Alright, you're good to go. Just come down here every night before you go to bed, and have me take a look at them, okay?" I nod again. "Now, your father told me to tell you to go to the meeting room; they're having a meeting as of this moment."

"Alright," I murmur, before heading out of the hallway. Strangely, I know where this room is...

I walk down the hallway, and make four rights, before arriving in front of a big room with a big "R" and "G" on it. Not even bothering to knock, I just open the door and stroll in, like I am not late at all. Nine pairs of eyes dart to me. "Sorry I am late," I apologize, running a hand through my wet hair. I walk over to the only empty chair in the room, and sit down on it, as Neptune sends me a harsh kick to the ankle. I force back a grimace, as I sit.

Father studies me carefully. "That's alright," he murmurs, before turning to everyone else. "Alright, so now..." he begins, but I begin to space out. These things were always dreadfully boring, and it never has anything to do with me, so I just space out most of the time.

I rest my left cheek on my left fist, with a quiet sigh. What's the point of making me go to these, anyways? It's not like father is on his deathbed, so it's not like it's a big deal if I sit in on these. My father says something, before Jupiter responds, then Neptune questions, "But what about that Gabi Emerson, girl?"

Suddenly, I'm sitting straight up, because something just jolted through me; like an electric shock. Gabi? Where have I heard that name before?...

Everyone ignored my little spontaneous moment, as they continued to converse, and I began to ponder where I know that name from. Could it be one of the grunts, perhaps? No no...why would they care about the grunts? Has one betrayed them, perhaps? No...father would have done this as discreetly as possible, and wouldn't have told anyone about this.

So, how could I possibly know the name of this "Gabi Emerson"? Did...I know her when I was a child, and now all of a sudden she's trying to stop Team Rocket? Who the hell knows...but this is starting to make head hurt, and for some odd reason, my wrist is beginning to itch. Great, that's just great.

I begin to scratch at my left wrist underneath the table, biting down on my tongue as pain laces up my arm. 'God damn it,' I think to myself, 'Stop itching!' I rub the skin raw, and continue to scratch at it, until there's an audible "screech, screech, scrrratttcchhh" from my nails scratching against the gauze. Cyrus stops in the middle of his sentence, to slowly turn, and look at me. Everyone does.

"Is there something wrong..." he asks slowly, "...Silver?" Jupiter and Mars stare at me with interest, and Neptune looks bored. Arianna and Archer looked annoyed, and Proton and Petrel looks relieved (since they don't have to listen to whatever Cyrus is saying), and my father isn't looking at me. He's studying the papers before him.

"Er...no," I respond, "You may continue."

"I don't think you're alright," he continues, sending father a look that says 'I thought you took care of that?'. Father sends him a look that I can't read. "I think you should go back to the infirmary...have Jennel look you over once again."

I feel like arguing with him, but the pain in my wrists, and my head, is just too strong. I nod to him, and rise from my chair. I send a nod to my father, as I turn, and exit the room. I let out a small sigh of relief, and some of the pain in my wrists has died down. 'Thank Arceus,' I think to myself, before heading to the infirmary.


	21. Chapter 21

"Well, Silver," the nurse says twenty minutes later, after I sat down on the styrofoam bed, and explained to her why I was back. "I don't know what could have caused your headache..." she mumbles, as she moves over to a table with a bunch of medical equipment on it. She tooks two pills out of a bottle, before walking over to me, and handing them to me. "These should help your head."

I nod quickly, before popping the pills in my mouth, and swallowing them. "Now, lets look at your wrists, okay?" I nod again, before holding out both of my wrists. She gently grabs my right wrist, and unwraps the gauze from around my wrist. She lets out a small gasp when she sees the status of my wrist, and I flinch away from it. I notice her swallow hard, before unwrapping my other wrist, to see it in the same state.

It doesn't look like there's any skin left on my wrists. There's just muscles, blood, and some signs of infection. It makes me want to puke just looking at it. Whatever skin tissue was left, got ripped off admittedly by my scratching. "Well..." Jennel says, biting her lower lip, and trying not to make a disgusted face, "I don't know what I can do about this..." she sighs. "The only thing I can do is put ointment on it, and wrap it up once again, and check on it regularly..." Jennel mumbles to herself, before walking over to the table, and picking up the ointment, then walking over to me. She uncaps it, before lightly squirting some onto my wrist, then rubbing it in. She repeats the procedure with the other one. Once she's done, she wraps my wrists again.

"Alright, there you go..." she mumbles, patting me on the thigh, "Try not to scratch it...okay?" I nod numbly. "Alright, I suggest you go get some rest in your room. I will send an email to your father to tell him you can't come back to the meeting." she says, with another sigh.

"Alright...thank you," I say, before sliding off of the bed, and leaving. I head down the hallway, take four lefts, and two rights, before coming upon a door with a giant "R" on it, then in cursive underneath in giant silver letters, "Executive Silver". I roll my eyes at the words, before pushing the door open, and walking in. I change quickly from my "uniform", and into an old t-shirt and black sweatpants, before collapsing on the bed with an exhausted sigh.

Father would have had my head if he came into the room and saw that feel asleep on expensive sheets in the clothes I've worn all day. I pull the sheets back, and climb under them, before pulling them back over my body. I let out a small sneeze, before rolling onto my stomach, and folding my arms under the pillow, pressing my right cheek against the cold pillow. I let out a big sigh, before closing my eyes, as my arms start to itch again. I try my best to ignore the sensation, and bite down on the inside of my mouth instead.

I bury my face in the pillow, and try to will myself to sleep. I guess I was more tired than I thought, because in less than a minute, I'm being eclipsed in darkness.

"Honey I'm home!" Ashy says sarcastically as she walks into one of the rooms at the Pokemon Center in Hearthome City. I roll my eyes at that, and shake my head. She can be such a goofball sometimes, I swear. I turn my gaze to the two other figures in the room, and am pleased to see Ashy isn't rooming with any boys.

Good, I think to myself, She doesn't need to have boys around her yet...

As if she can read my thoughts, Ashy sends me a look that says, "I'm eighteen, Silver, I think I can have them around if I want". I roll my eyes that, before I turn and take in the appearance of the two other girls in the room.

One of them looks really young-and when I mean really young, I mean she looks 15. She has bright green hair, and almost as bright blue eyes. She's wearing a green shirt, with a black skirt that goes a little bit before her knees, and green leggings that run down to her boots-which, go up to the middle of her calves. Shecocks her head to one side, and looks very interested in me.

The other one, doesn't look so interested in me. She's got short brown,hair and her blue eyes take in my appearance, and they seem to make a judgement of me, before they look away towards my sister. She's wearing a white shirt that fades to purple at the bottom, that shows off her mid drift. She's wearing a black, long sleeved jacket over it, and she's wearing a purple skirt. She's wearing knee high black boots. "Ashy, who is this?" The girl asks, frowning at my sister.

"Gabi, Feather," Ashy says, nodding to both of them, "This is my brother, Silver. Twin brother, may I add." She says with a grin, before turning to me, "Silver, this is Gabi," she says motioning to the brown haired girl.

Gabi...

Startled, I sit upright abruptly, with a gasp. I set my palms down on the bed, and pant hard. I run a hand through my hair, and realize I'm sweating hard. I grab the bottom of my shirt, and pull it up and over my head, before tossing it towards a corner of the room. I push the comforter off of the bed, and lay down, with only my pajama pants, and the light weight blanket covering my body. I wipe the sweat off my forehead, trying to calm myself.

What was that dream about? And, why was I with Ashy, and those two girls Gabi, and Feather? I shake my head, and take another stuttering breath. My mind must be playing tricks on me. Of course, it is. Ashy is on a mission in Johto somewhere, and Gabi is a threat to Team Rocket, and Feather is just...an illusion.

But why did it feel so real?

I managed to gain a couple more hours of sleep, before someone was banging on my door at seven fifteen A.M. "Get up!" Neptune shouts through my door. "And go down to the room you woke up in yesterday! We got a job for you!"

"Okay!" I shout back tiredly, and rub my eyes. I sit up, and go into the bathroom. I take a quick shower, before changing into a new set of clothes, before walking out of the room, and heading toward the room Neptune told me to go too.

When I walk in I am sent for a whirl. I see Neptune standing in front of a girl that looks exactly like that Gabi girl from my dream-wait, no...that IS the girl from my dream! I freeze momentarily, when her eyes land on me. Her mouth is duct tape shut, and when she realizes who I am, her eyes flare with hope. I don't know why. "Ah," Neptune begins, when he notices where Gabi is looking. "You're here, finally." he says, and sends a grin at Gabi, whose eyes turn from hopeful, to disgust.

I notice the wires are attached to her temples, and avert my eyes to Neptune. "What are you doing?" I ask, as he moves over to the machine.

"Brainwashing her, what do you expect?" he asks, as he begins to do something on the machine. I turn to the girl, and her eyes go wide with fear, and tears fill them. I blink slowly. For some reason, I feel sad for her. I don't understand...

I'm about to tell Neptune to stop, when suddenly he gets a call. He scowls, and picks up his phone, before answering it. "Hello?" pause. "Of course. I will be there in a minute." he hangs up, and turns to me. "I must go. Father needs me. I am leaving you to take care of her," he says, nodding to Gabi, who glares sharply at Neptune. He sends her a "you can kiss my ass, sweetheart", look before turning to her. "I shall be back soon." He then leaves.

I swallow, and turn to Gabi, whose glaring holes through my head. I walk over to her, and raise my right hand towards her head. She turns her head away. "I'm just going to remove the duct tape," I tell her calmly. She turns her head back to me, and studies me for a second, before slowly nodding. I slowly peel off the duct tape, and she lets out a small "ow" once it's completely off.

She glares at me. "What the hell do you want, you traitor?" she asks, in a snarky tone.

"I want answers." I say, as I kneel in front of her.

"What answers?" she asks, the snarkiness slowly disappearing from her voice. "What could I possibly tell you, that could give you an advantage in anything?"

"I want to know why you were in my dream," I say, "And why you were with my sister, and this girl named Feather."

She blinks. "You...don't remember?" I shake my head no. She sighs. "Fine...I'll tell you, but it's going to take a while."

"I got time."


	22. Chapter 22

She tells me everything she knows. From the first time we met, until when we started journeying together, and up until now. I sit there, and listen quietly, until she's finished. "So...does that help you any?" she asks quietly, eyeing me warily, with a slight glint of hope in her eyes.

For some odd reason-even though how logical it sounds-I don't believe her. I give a small smile, and I see the hope in her eyes dim a little bit. "You're crazy," I say, "Do you honestly think, that I would believe that?"

'Even though you do,' a small voice says in the back of my head. I ignore it.

"Well," Gabi says, pursing her lips, "If you had half a brain, you would be able to tell it is the truth. Wait, oh no, I forget; you don't HAVE brain, because you listen to everything your daddy tells you, don't you?"

For some reason I feel like hitting her, but I try to push down the feeling. "For your information," I begin, standing up, "My father has no control over what I can or cannot do."

"If he doesn't have control over you," Gabi responds, "Then why don't you let me go?"

"Because he wants you gone," I shoot back, "Well, at least your memory, anyways. I don't know why he wants you gone, but he does, so I'm going to make sure that your memory disappears. For good."

Gabi blinks at me, before beginning to laugh. "Oh come on, Silver! Don't tell you're that ignorant!" she exclaims, a grin crossing her features. "Giovanni only wants me gone because if I find out how to bring back your memory; he can't have you under his control anymore. He's afraid he'll lose his most valuable assist to a seventeen year old girl."

"Liar," I say, in a sorta sing-song like voice, before heading over to the machine. The worried look returns onto Gabi's face. "You've said your last words with your memory...and they were lies," I say, as I begin to push some of the buttons, "Maybe if you hadn't lied, and told me the truth, you wouldn't be in this position." I say, as my hand rests on the dial.

I'm about to turn it, when the door falls down, and in bursts a blue haired girl with a Alakazam. "Abree!" the girl shouts, as I turn away from the dial. "Knock him out!" I go to duck away from the Pokemon, but it uses Psychic to hold me to my spot. I grit my teeth, as the Pokemon appears in front of me.

"Alakazam," he hisses, before hitting me over the head with his fist. I groan in pain, as the Psychic type Pokemon removes his attack, letting me fall to the floor. Honestly; that really hurt. Black begins to fill the edge of my vision, and my head spins.

"Nice job, Abree!" the girl says, as my ears ring, "Now, Weaver, use slash on the chair!" there's a loud slashing noise, before something falls to the ground.

"Thank you," I hear Gabi breath. "But who are-?"

"No time to explain!" the girl shouts, "Let's grab him, and go!" That's the last thing I remember, before I'm encased in darkness.

My "Dreams" are filled of those three girls...Gabi, Feather...and Ashy...

Today must be the exception.

Feather looks at Saturn. "When can we leave? It's been three days! I think they would have stopped looking for us by now! This is starting to get ridiculous," she says to the ex-commander, scowling.

"Well, you thought wrong. They are still looking for you." Saturn sighs, "They just walked by for the thousandth time today. If they weren't looking for you by now, then I would have already escorted you out of the city." His Bronzong lets out a noise as it swings it's arms, before it levitates over to the table where there's some dirty dishes. The Bronzong picks them up, before flying over to the sink. "If your lives weren't at risk, I would have sent you on your way by now-trust me." The end of the sentence is clipped, and he sounds annoyed-not by Ashy and I, but by her friends.

"We can take stupid Team Galactic grunts!" Gabi says, before glancing at Flame-her Blaziken-, Violet-her Espeon-, and Rachel-her Raichu- nod in agreement, Rachel's cheeks zap with a few electrical sparks. "If we have to fight our way out of the city, then so be it!"

"Fighting them won't end well-for any of you. You're underestimating them. They may seem like a bunch of idiots, but taking them all on at once is like asking for a death wish. They may lose when it's one on one, but when it's fifteen on four,-or however many grunts there are-they won't lose. They'll win. I've seen it before, and I'm sure if you tried to fight your way out of the city then it'd happen again."

"Can't we just dye Ashy and Silver's hair then?" Feather asks, as her Prinplup, Lucario, and Zoroark eat some of the Pokemon food Bronzong set out in front of them.

"Hell no!" I exclaim, scowling. Ashy seems to be contemplating the idea, before shaking her head in disagreement.

"Oh, come on guys! Silver would look good as a blonde, and Ashy could pretend to be my twin!" The green haired trainer exclaimed.

"No! Nu-huh! We are not dying my hair!" I say, glaring at her. "And whoever tries will wake up in the middle of Snowpoint City without any clothes on, and no hair, with their eyes glued shut!" Feather-who was going to say something else-suddenly snaps her jaw shut, eyes wide. Her hands then go to her head, and she gives me a scared look. I stare her down and say, "And I'm being dead serious." She lets out an "eep!" before running away.

"You should realize," Saturn begins, looking at Gabi and Feather, "That you two aren't the ones who are going to be sent home to your abusive father if Team Galactic captures you. You two will probably be let go, and those two will be sent back to Kanto. You will get to continue your journey, and they won't."

"I do realize that." Gabi says, "But why should Feather and I be under house arrest?"

"Good night," I tell them, as I begin to head into another room.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"To my own room?"

"Oh, no you don't!" Ashy scowls at me, "If I let you have your own room, you'll sneak out in the middle of the night and leave. Not going to happen! You're staying with us," she says, grabbing my hand, and dragging me into their room.

I scowl at her, "You know, I could be passed as a perv because I'm staying in the same room as two girls who aren't related to me."

Gabi walks over to the bottom bunk on the left side, and slides onto it with a yawn. Feather jumps onto the top bunk. Ashy rolls her eyes. "Silver, you make it seem like boys haven't roomed with girls before. It'll be fine." She says as she climbs on the bottom bunk of the bed on the right side. I sigh, before climbing up onto the top bunk on the right side. I lay down, and put my arms behind my head as I stare at the ceiling.

Slim comes out of her pokeball, and walks up the bed towards my face, and shoves her face in mine. "Stunky," she says, as she rubs his cheek against my cheek.

"Hey Slim," I say as I rub his head, the fur soft under my touch. Slim makes some noises that I assume mean she's content. I scratch behind her ears, and she leans into my touch as she lays down beside me. She moves her chin up, so I'm scratching under there instead. I continue to scratch under her chin, until she pulls away, climbs up onto my stomach, and curls up there. I raise my head to look at her, and give her a look that says, "Really?"

If she could, I bet Slim would be grinning at me right now. I sigh, and lay my head back down. My left hand begins to pet Slim, who let's out a noise of content. I stare up at the old ceiling, and pretty soon, I drift off to sleep unwillingly.

When I actually wake up, I've got a major headache, and am as confused as hell. Why do I keep dreaming about them? It doesn't make any sense...but it feels like they should. Heck...they feel like they should be real! But they aren't...

Are they?

I look around the room, and realize I'm laying in an unfamiliar blue room. There's white bed sheets spread over the left and right walls of the room, one keeping sunlight out, and the other must be an entrance to a room. "Where the hell am I?" I wonder out loud.

Suddenly, the bed sheet on the right side of the room moves to the side, and tanned woman comes in; with a bowl of something in her hands. "Ah," she says with a smile in greeting, "You're awake." She's got dark black hair, and has dark green eyes. She's wearing blue jeans, and a white long sleeved shirt with red around the collar.

"Who are you?" I question, as my head thumps loudly. She walks over to this chair next to the bed I'm laying in, and sets the bowl on the nightstand. I glance into the bowl to see water, and a cloth.

"Lay down, child," the woman says soothingly, before placing a hand on my chest, and forcing me to lay back down. Her hand is warm, and soft, and that's when I realize that I'm pantless, and shirtless; only in my boxer shorts. If my head didn't hurt so much, I would probably a bright shade of red. "Now, to answer your questions," she says, as my head stops throbbing, "My name is Malintzin."

"Malintzin?" I question, "What kind of name is that?"

"The name of the famous Aztec woman who helped the Spanish conquistadors defeat her own empire." she says stiffly, and sends me a look that says, 'and I'm as dangerous as her; so don't even think about trying anything'!

I swallow slightly, and nod. There's a moment of silence, before she's wringing the wash cloth, and folding it, before putting it on my forehead. I then ask, "Where am I, exactly? And...why are you taking care of me?"

"You're in my home, in the Kalos region," Malintzin says as she pours some of the water from a bowl into a glass, before adding a purple liquid into it, turning the water a somewhat gray color. I scrunch my face up at that, and silently plead she doesn't make me drink it. "I am taking care of you because you are a friend of one of my close friends who sought out my help once she started being hunted down by Team Galactic. If it wasn't for her, you'd probably still be brainwashed in Team Rocket/Galactic Headquarters."

"My friend? I don't have any friends that'd take me away from my job," I respond, as she holds a glass out to me. I scrunch up my face, but Malintzin shoves it towards me, forcing me to take it in my hand.

"Drink it, or you'll never regain your memory," she says. I hold the glass shakily in my hand, before downing it. It tastes just like water (does water even have a taste?), with a grape-like after taste.

"Regain my memory?" I ask. "I never lost it."

She sighs. "Yes, you did. Team Rocket put up a wall between your old memories, and the new ones they created. The wall kept you from remembering anything about your past; although, I am told you have been having dreams since you woke up in that chair."

"Who told you-? Nevermind," I say, shaking my head, "But yes, you heard correctly. I have had one dream about my so called "past". And, just last night, I had two more dreams about my "past"."

"Good," she says, "That means the potion is working; you're regaining your memories."

"What potion? I thought that when they put the wall in my head, it'd be irreversible?" my head begins to hurt once again. This is all too much information to take it.

Malintzin nods. "That's what people like you to think; but there's an old remedy that helps solve that problem. And it has helped; you've gained three memories back. It's improvement."

"How long until I regain all my memories?"

"A week to a month. You lost a lot of memories, Silver, it is going to take you awhile to recover."

"A week to a month?! That's ridiculous!" I scream.

"Just be thankful it's not longer. I have some people come it, and sometimes it takes them one to ten years to fully recover all their memories." She rises from her spot, and picks up the bowl, before heading to the bed sheet over the entrance.

"Malintzin..." I begin slowly.

She stops with her hand on the bedsheet, "Yes?" she asks calmly.

"Can I leave the room? You know...to get some exercise?" I ask, hopefully. I'd really like to get out of this bed.

"No."

"Why not?" I want to start to throw a tantrum, but that'd be unmanly.

"Because it's too dangerous for you to come out of this room yet..."

"And why is that?" I question. The tanned woman turns, and looks at me, and smiles. Genuinely, smiles.

"Because your friend Gabi has threatened several times, that once she sees you, you're getting floored across the face."


	23. Chapter 23

It didn't take as long as Malintzin expected; for me to recover my memories, I mean. It took me about four days, to recover them all. I felt stupid, and used, once I realized Gabi had been right all along, and I failed to see it. What kind of person am I?

A terrible one.

Malintzin made me wait an entire week after that before she even thought about letting me out of the room. "Today is the day I'm letting you out of the room," she told me earlier, "You need to be warned; your friend Gabi is very worried about you. Really worried about you."

I nodded. "I can see that; she always seemed to worry about everyone around her; whether she liked them or not." Malintzin at the time only simply nodded.

I take a shaky breath, as I push myself upright. I heard whisperings in the other room, and I knew that she told the others-Gabi and the girl whose name I have yet to learn-that I would be coming out of the room...I wonder if she thought that waiting a week and a day since I recovered would let Gabi have enough time to calm down, and not want to floor me?

Well, she's dead wrong.

I sit up on the bed, that I've been laying on for the past hour, trying to get the courage to walk out there. But I can't seem to find any. What happened to the brave Silver who risked his life and his memory to save a girl he's in love with?

Whatever happened to him?

The answer to that; I don't know. I honestly, have no clue what happened to him...but he's gone now. And now it's just me...

A weak, pathetic, shell of what was once a strong and brave guy, that his sister, and people he saved, looked up too...and now, now...

I shake my head, trying to clear my thoughts. It doesn't matter who I was the past; I am who I am now, so it doesn't matter who I was before. It only matters who I am now.

With that now in mind, I get up from the bed, and slowly walk over to the entrance of the room, and put my hand on the sheet. I hear the voices go quiet in the other room, as they hear my footsteps. I take a deep breath, before pulling back the sheet, and walking into the room. I'm not wearing a t-shirt, since Malintzin hasn't found one that fits me good enough yet, so I notice the obvious difference in room temperature. This room is way colder.

Goosebumps dart across my skin; well, except for my midsection, which is wrapped tightly in bandages since I had a lot of rib damage. Luckily; Malintzin gave me a pair of sweatpants to wear.

All of the eyes in the room turn to me. My face reddens slightly, as I see Gabi's eyes turn from normal, to anger, to sadness, to relief, to joy, then suddenly anger again. 'Dear lord,' I think to myself, 'Why couldn't you stay on joooyyyy?' I question as she walks up to me, and roundhouse kicks me across the side of the head.

"Gabi!" The unknown girl in the room shouts, although, I recognize her voice. "Don't do that! You could injure him more severely than he already is!" I groan as my head begins to throb from the spot where she kicked me. God damn it, that hurt! The unknown girl rushes to me, where I'm laying on my side, clutching my head. "Silver, are you okay?" she asks.

"He is fine," comes Malintzin's voice. "Cyra, you really shouldn't worry so much. You act like you're his girlfriend. And, lately, he's had much worse injuries. A simple hit to the head shouldn't do him that up harm." I hear footsteps, and assume she's walking over to me. That's when I remember the name Malintzin used to call to the girl by my side...

Cyra.

Pluto's alive.

"Up you go," she says, as she helps me up. I feel Cyra on my other side, pulling me up also. My head spins.

"I'm not his girlfriend," Cyra says, which I barely make out with my ears ringing like mad, "But I could be," she says, in a lower voice, only meant for me to hear. I curl my lip back slightly at that.

'You won't be my girlfriend,' I want to tell her, but the words won't form, 'Ever.' Cyra suddenly disappears from my side abruptly; someone yanked her away from me.

"Like hell he'd pick you," Gabi snaps, obviously the one who pulled Cyra away from me. "You barely know him!" Malintzin-ignoring the confrontation between the girls-drags me over to a table, and forces me to sit down in a chair.

"I've known him longer than you!" the snappy blue haired girl retorts. "I've known him since he used to spit on Ashy's clothes and hair for laughs!" My face turns red at that, as Malintzin puts a plate of food in front of me.

"Eat up," she says, "According to your friend Gabi, you're leaving soon." I only nod, before slowly beginning to eat my food. It hurts to swallow.

"That doesn't mean shit!" Gabi almost screams. I flinch slightly. "I was the one who was there for him after his sister said all those mean words to him! I was the one who chose to go with him, instead of letting him travel alone! I was the one who called you, and told you we got kidnapped! It doesn't matter how long you knew him. I was there for him when no one else was!" That gets Cyra to go quiet.

"Okay," she whispers, "Have him!" Then, she storms out of the house, and throws out Abree. She commands him to use teleport, before they're both disappearing. Gabi shakes her head, before turning to me.

"I'm sorry about the roundhouse kick," she apologizes. "How's your head?" she sits down next to me, and takes my head in her hands, before turning my head gently to look at her. Her face is covered in bruises, I now realize, and her bottom lip has a cut in it, and is swollen.

"I'm fine," I respond, before looking at her now cut covered, and bruised arms. "I'm sorry..." it comes out as a whisper, when I didn't mean it too.

"Sorry for what?" she asks curiously.

"Leaving you there, making you fend for yourself," I respond, as I turn fully around towards her, and pull her into my arms, hugging her tight against my chest. Despite the cold room, and her only being in a tank top, she's surprisingly warm. "I should have fought against the wall when the dream occurred. I should have tried to save you a lot harder than I did."

Gabi pauses for a moment, before returning the embrace. "Oh, Silver..." she whispers, as she slowly strokes my hair. "I don't blame you for allowing the wall to control your thoughts, clouding your memories and your judgement. Because, that wasn't you, the person I saw at Team Rocket Headquarters. That was a version of you Team Rocket wanted you to be..." when she feels my uncertainty, she pulls back, and looks me straight in the eyes. "I don't blame you," she whispers, before leaning forward, pressing her lips firmly against mine.

Kissing her is like when you beat your first opponent in a Pokemon battle. Joy, victory. Like you accomplished something in life. It felt better than even winning the Johto League a couple years back. To put it short, it felt better than anything else in the world. Not even becoming the gym leader of Viridian City could top that.

Have you ever loved someone so much, when you weren't dating, that when you finally got to kiss them, the only reasonable thing your mind could think of, was to freeze up, and totally not respond to the feel of the person you're kissing?

That's what happen to me. My mind went into sensory overload, and went numb, I couldn't respond. No matter how many times I screamed at my brain to "kiss her back!", it wouldn't do it. No matter how many times I tried to kiss her back, I just couldn't. Not until my mind started to catch up with reality, then, that's when my brain realized what it should tell my body to do...

My arms kinda went slack around her, and at first I wanted to try to push her away, but that's when I realize I've waited too long for this. Too long for this kiss, too long for this moment. I tightened my arms around her, pulling her body closer to mine, then started to kiss her for all that I was worth. Which, considering how weak I was still, wasn't much. But when we pulled away from air, that didn't stop her from having flush cheeks, and swollen lips. I went into to kiss her again, when suddenly Malintzin said...

"Keep it G! Keep it G!" she shouted, covering her eyes. Gabi and I jump away, and both of our flashes flush more so than they were before.

"Sorry, Malintzin," we both apologize, faces bright red.

"It's alright," she says, "I believe it was both of your guys' first kiss; I am right, no?" Both of us turn bright red, and nod. She smiles. "Ah...young love, how sweet it must be!"


	24. Chapter 24

"Uh...Malintzin," Gabi says a few seconds later, after an awkward silence. "I need to speak with Silver, alone. I hope you don't mind..." she motions to the room that I've been stuck in for over a week. I mentally groan at that.

"No, not at all," she responds, with a smile. "Go ahead; but remember, I can hear everything you say, so speak quietly. Very, quietly." There's a knowing glint in her green eyes, like she knows what's going to happen.

Gabi only nods, before she's dragging me out of the room, and into my "room". Once we get in, I open my mouth to ask her what this is about, when she suddenly grabs me by the shoulders once again, and kisses me hard on the mouth. I'm shocked at first, but then I let out a small moan, and wrap my arms around her, holding her close, and kissing her hard. She backs away towards the bed, before spinning us both around so quickly it knocks me off balance and we fall onto the bed; with her on top of me. She pulls back, both of us panting hard. We kinda just stare into each other's eyes, before she says, "You're probably wondering why I dragged you in here."

I kiss the bridge of her nose, before responding, "I have an idea. I think you're trying to seduce me." It's supposed to be a joke, but at first she doesn't take it like one. She tenses up in my arms, before realizing it's stupid to get tense over that, so she relaxes.

"No, that's not it," Gabi says, as she picks up a lock of my red hair, and begins to twirl it around her finger. "I wanted to ask you, what does this mean for us now?"

"What do you mean by that?" I ask, as she continues to twirl the lock of hair. She looks incredibly thoughtful...hm, I never realized it before, but she looks absolutely beautiful when she's concentrating.

"I mean...well..." she sighs, and pushes herself off of me, before sitting on the bed next to me. "I want to know what our relationship status is. Are we friends, or are we...well...boyfriend and girlfriend?" She blushes a deep shade of crimson when she says the words.

I smile. "Well, we're whatever you want us to be. Personally, I'd love it if you'd be my girlfriend," I admit. Those words are true, though, I'm not lying right through my teeth. It's genuine, and I hope Gabi knows it.

Gabi beams at me. "Okay, then! That's what we are!" she leans down closer to me, and whispers out, "Boyfriend and girlfriend..." her breath ghosts against my face, and it smells like peppermint. I lean forward, meeting her halfway in a kiss.

We have decided to wait two days until I've fully healed, so, we practically get to lay around Malintzin's all day, and kiss; which we do. A lot. On the day we were supposed to leave, Malintzin discovered that I had some internal injuries that needed to be taken care of.

So, now we have no idea how long it'll be until we get to leave.

"You alright?" Gabi asks, as she walks up to me. At the time, I had been staring out the window, at the main street of Lumiose City. I jump, and turn to Gabi, before looking back out the window, where two kids are double battling; one with a Fennekin and a Miltank, and the other one has a Wurmple, and Chespin.

"I'm fine...except..."

"Except what?"

"Where are my Pokemon?" I can sense sadness suddenly wash over Gabi. I know they probably could find them, but I must know. "What happened to my Pokemon, Gabi?"

She pauses for a minute, before sighing. "Silver, I'm sorry, I really am. We tried to recover your Pokemon, but they already released them all. They were releasing Snatch, and Sury when we got there." Despair washes over me. My original team; gone. Even Sury, who used to annoy me, and even Tsunami; my starter, and best pal.

Gone...

"But," Gabi says quickly. My head snaps up. "We managed to save one..." she smiles slightly, before pulling out a Pokemon. It's covered in ash-it must have been in her pocket when Cyra and her they tried getting me out of there. She wipes off of the ash, before slowly tossing it into the air. The ball manages to spin once, before it's bursting open.

My breath catches in my throat, as I wait for the Pokemon to show itself. The white light comes down onto the floor, and begins to bring out the creature. It's tall, and spiky, that's for sure. The light dims, and I can recognize the Pokemon. My eyes begin to tear up.

"FERALIGATR!" Tsunami cries, angry that he was trapped inside a Pokeball for so long. But, when he spots me, I can tell he was shocked to see me.

'Silver.'

'Tsunami,' I think back, and get up from the chair faster than I should have, and rush to my partner Pokemon. I ignore the pain, as I wrap my arms around the alligator Pokemon, and hug it tight. He pauses for a moment, before hugging me back, but not tight.

"Aww..." I hear Gabi coo, as I almost start to cry. I thought I was never going to see him again! "Trainer and Pokemon reunited once more!" she whispers, with a glint of happiness in her eyes, before she sets the Pokeball down on the table, and walks out of the room, giving me time to catch up with my Pokemon.

'I thought I wasn't going to see you again,' I admit to Tsunami, as we converse. Of course, Gabi can't hear us, but she watches my Pokemon and I with interest. 'I thought I lost you for good.'

'I thought the same thing,' replies Tsunami. He then looks sad. 'No matter how hard I tried, once Team Rocket released Sury, Snatch, Troop, and Slim, they wouldn't listen to me. They left, when I told them to stay, because you'd come for us...They didn't care.'

'So...they left you?' He nods. 'I'm sorry.'

'They asked me to join them,' he admits after a moment of silence, 'They wanted me to escape into the wild with them...but I couldn't.' I nod, and pat his arm.

'It's okay, Tsunami. You did what you wanted to do...It doesn't matter what they wanted. The only thing that really matters is what you want. And now, since you decided to stay, you get to travel with my awesome ass again!' Tsunami only smiles.

I grin in response.

"Goodbye!" Malintzin calls to Gabi and I the next day, as we begin to head away from her house, towards the dock so we can get on a boat; with destinations to the other five regions: Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova.

"Bye!" Gabi calls back. "Thank you! And I promise to write to you!" We barely see Malintzin nod, before I cup my hands around my mouth, and call out...

"Hey, Malintzin!"

"What?"

"Thank you! And, you've got an awesome name!" I shout. That receives a laugh, and she continues to wave to us. Gabi and I wave back, grinning, before turning around, and walking in silence down the hill towards the dock. Our Pokemon are in their Pokeballs; mainly because we're both paranoid from the Team Galactic/Rocket attack. Our feet make hollow sounds against the wood of the dock as we walk down it. We head to the loading ramp, and there's a guy there, waiting for us.

"Tickets, please," he says. We hand over our tickets (which were paid by Malintzin), and he scans them, before glancing at us, "You two are lucky that I waited. This boat should have left ten minutes ago."

We both mumble a "sorry", before climbing the ramp, and heading in. First, we find our cabin, and set out stuff in there, before letting our Pokemon out. At first, Tsunami and Flame glare at each other, before we give them a warning look. Flame stretches out on the floor, while Violet curls up on the bed. Gabi's Raichu sits on one of the chairs, in front of the admire, admiring herself. Gabi heads into the bathroom to let out her Dewgong into the water Pokemon tub they have so trainers water type Pokemon can be in the safety of the cabin, but be out, if they're Pokemon like Dewgong.

While she's in there, filling the tub with water, and getting her Pokemon situated, I look at the two starter Pokemon. "If you two behave," I begin, "Tsunami, I will take you down to the Pokemon pool so you can swim." His eyes light up at that. Tsunami hasn't gotten to swim a lot lately...

"And Flame." I add, looking at the Blaziken, "I'll take you down to the Pokemon gym, so you can train." Flame doesn't do anything, but I can tell he's pleased.

Gabi comes out of the bathroom, and asks, "Hey; want to watch the boat leave the dock?"

"Sure," I say with a grin, before looking at the Pokemon, "Behave," I warn, before grabbing the keycard, and heading out of the room with Gabi. I made sure the door with locked (again with the paranoia!), before heading with Gabi up to the deck. We get there just in time to see the boat leave. There's only a few only people on the deck-an older elderly couple with a Persian, Purugly, and Delcatty, and two boys; who I guess are a couple, since they're making out on the other side of the deck. I turn my head away from the two boys; not because of disgust, because that's definitely something I don't want to be caught staring at.

Gabi grabs my hand with a smile, as the wind begins to blow, and leads me over to the deck railing. Once we get there, she lets go of my wrist, and grabs my hand, intertwining our fingers together. She leans her head against my shoulder, with a smile, "So, where to now?"

"Well," I begin, as I kiss her head, "Sinnoh's out of the question."

She laughs slightly, before saying, "But no, seriously, where too?"

"I've always wanted to go to Hoenn. Don't your parents live there? Maybe you could introduce me to your family."

Gabi's face goes pale. "No, that's out of the question."

"Why?"

"My dad would kill you." At first, I think she's joking, so I laugh. I stop, once I see how serious she looks. "I'm serious, he'd kill you."

"Why?"

"He just would."

"Will I ever get to meet the "Great Norman Emerson", then?" I question, and spin her around to face me, the sun beginning to set in the distance.  
"Yes..." she whispers, and begins to lean in, "Eventually..." then her lips connect to mine.

Hm...I'm beginning to love the word "eventually"...

~*Fin*~


End file.
